Shakugan no Shana: Us and Them
by Cordova
Summary: Neil Wright. He lived in town with his gay older brother and was in a band with a couple of his friends. His life was simple. Then he met her. When she tells him about the truth about everything, he was finally forced to start living. And fight.
1. Speak to Me

..are you willing to destroy something perfect in order to make it beautiful... "How are you all doing tonight!" yells a young boy around 17 into a microphone. The boy is equipped with a white and black Rickenbacker 4001 bass. He has a yellow and black flannel jacket on with black pants and brown leather converse. The crowd of many responded with shouting and cups being raised in the air. The boys friend was behind his orange and black colored Ludwig Vistalite drums. His other two friends were ready to play as well. One was equipped with an old Taylor DN acoustic guitar and the other had his fingers on a red Yamaha CP5 electric piano. They played on top of a somewhat small stage. The boy behind drums clicked his drum sticks together four times. The four then began to play in a loud, bashful symphony of rock and roll. The amps shouted words of song out to the crowd who yearned to hear it's magical voice. The crowds plastic cups and hands in shapes of peace and rock signs rose to the air. Caught by the Fuzz - Supergrass Caught by the fuzz, well I was still on the buzz In the back of the van with my head in my hands Just like a bad dream, I was only fifteen If I only my brother could be here now He get me out and set me out alright I know I should have stayed at home tonight Locked in a cell, feeling unwell I talked to a man who said 'there's nothing to tell' Who sold you the blow, well it was no one I know If only you'd tell us we'd let you go Well maybe it's hard for you my son to tell us what you know We'll make you wish you stayed at home tonight Here comes my mom, well she, she knows what I've done Just tell them the truth, you know where it's from You've blackened our name, well you, you should be ashamed If only you're father could see you now, he break out and he'd throw you out for sure I should of never let you out tonight Tonight, tonight, tonight, tonight Tonight, tonight, tonight, tonight The crowd roared as the four finished their rhythm. "Good performance, Neil." said a voice putting it's hand on the young boy with the bass's shoulder. The boy turned around and recognized the voice as his brothers. His brother wore a light blue polo shirt and dirty blue jeans with sandals. He had been living with them every since his parents kicked him to the curb. "Oh hey, Rob." replied the boy smiling. "Thanks." "No problem. Here's to loud yelling and blowing up shit." said the boys brother lifting up his Budwiser into the air. "Cheers." responded Neil lifting up his can of Dr. Pepper. With that, both drinks touched each other. ...are you willing to kill thousands to bring back one... "Neil?" said the boys brother as he watched him drop his soda and put his hands on his head as though he was in an extreme amount of pain. "It's alright. I just have a headache." said Neil looking up and smiling. Then he fell to onto the grassy ground and everything around him went dark. "Holy shit! Someone call an ambulan-" said a voice disappearing from his hearing range. He felt himself falling. ...don't tell me what to do! I know right from wrong and I understand that I should move on and I have moved on! I don't need a lecture on how to be flame haze because that's what I've been doing since before I can remember!... Neil woke up. "How are you feeling?" said a voice in the distance. He opened up his eyes to find himself on a couch in a living room. His living room. And the voice beloved to his brother who was sipping on tea on the big, comfy chair across from where he laid. "Same days are better then others." Neil replied getting up so he can stretch. "I heard someone shouting about an ambulance." "Crazy people. Neil..." "Hm?" "Are you sure you're okay..." "Yeah. Of course I am." Neil said going up the stairs towards his room. "Alright. Just don't try and kill yourself." replied his brother turning on the tv to Spike where they were showing a marathon of action movies. "Am I okay?" asked Neil quietly to himself. His Rickenbacker lay on his legs as he sat on the bed plucking the same string repeatedly without thinking. It made one sound, a sound that could create at least fifteen more sounds with a million combinations. The lights in his room were turned off and all he could hear other then himself plucking was the sound of a the occasional car passing by and his brother watching action films. ...I still don't know why or how it happened... "It's happening again." said Neil to himself. He stopped plucking and started to try and listen. ...you can't blame yourself for something you can't explain... "Is it two people?" ...I guess I can't... He stood his guitar straight and started to pluck again, but this time to a beat. A soft, nice beat. It fitted to the atmosphere of the dark room with the noise comic out of the young boys window and the conversation being played out in the boys head. He realized how this was all probably just his conscious talking to itself, but these voices sounded familiar, but he never heard them before. One belonged to what seemed to be an older man and the other to a young girl. ...wait. do you hear that... Neil stopped plucking at once and became frightened. He put his bass down and clenched his fists as though he was prepared for someone to attack him. ...what was that?... ...someone is listening to us... ...wait...YOU... At that point, Neil jumped and shook his head. It seemed as though the voices in his head stopped talking, but he thought he could see something before it ended. He saw something that would give him goosebumps and maybe even nightmares for the time to come. He saw something that made him know he'd seen them somewhere. He saw flaming eyes. 


	2. Waking Up

..are you willing to destroy something perfect in order to make it beautiful...

"How are you all doing tonight!" yells a young boy around 15 into a microphone. The boy is equipped with a white and black Rickenbacker 4001 bass. He has a yellow and black flannel jacket on with black pants and brown leather converse.

The crowd of many responded with shouting and cups being raised in the air. The boys friend was behind his orange and black colored Ludwig Vistalite drums. His other two friends were ready to play as well. One was equipped with an old Taylor DN acoustic guitar and the other had his fingers on a red Yamaha CP5 electric piano. They played on top of a somewhat small stage.

The boy behind drums clicked his drum sticks together four times.

The four then began to play in a loud, bashful symphony of rock and roll. The amps shouted words of song out to the crowd who yearned to hear it's magical voice. The crowds plastic cups and hands in shapes of peace and rock signs rose to the air.

Caught by the Fuzz - Supergrass

Caught by the fuzz, well I was still on the buzz

In the back of the van with my head in my hands

Just like a bad dream, I was only fifteen

If I only my brother could be here now

He get me out and set me out alright

I know I should have stayed at home tonight

Locked in a cell, feeling unwell

I talked to a man who said 'there's nothing to tell'

Who sold you the blow, well it was no one I know

If only you'd tell us we'd let you go

Well maybe it's hard for you my son to tell us what you know

We'll make you wish you stayed at home tonight

Here comes my mom, well she, she knows what I've done

Just tell them the truth, you know where it's from

You've blackened our name, well you, you should be ashamed

If only you're father could see you now, he break out and he'd throw you out for sure

I should of never let you out tonight

Tonight, tonight, tonight, tonight

Tonight, tonight, tonight, tonight

The crowd roared as the four finished their rhythm.

"Good performance, Neil." said a voice putting it's hand on the young boy with the bass's shoulder.

The boy turned around and recognized the voice as his brothers. His brother wore a light blue polo shirt and dirty blue jeans with sandals. He had been living with them every since his parents kicked him to the curb.

"Oh hey, Rob." replied the boy smiling. "Thanks."

"No problem. Here's to loud yelling and blowing up shit." said the boys brother lifting up his Budwiser into the air.

"Cheers." responded Neil lifting up his can of Dr. Pepper. With that, both drinks touched each other.

...are you willing to kill thousands to bring back one...

"Neil?" said the boys brother as he watched him drop his soda and put his hands on his head as though he was in an extreme amount of pain.

"It's alright. I just have a headache." said Neil looking up and smiling. Then he fell to onto the grassy ground and everything around him went dark.

"Holy shit! Someone call an ambulan-" said a voice disappearing from his hearing range.

He felt himself falling.

...don't tell me what to do! I know right from wrong and I understand that I should move on and I have moved on! I don't need a lecture on how to be flame haze because that's what I've been doing since before I can remember!...

* * *

><p>Neil woke up.<p>

"How are you feeling?" said a voice in the distance.

He opened up his eyes to find himself on a couch in a living room. His living room. And the voice beloved to his brother who was sipping on tea on the big, comfy chair across from where he laid.

"Same days are better then others." Neil replied getting up so he can stretch. "I heard someone shouting about an ambulance."

"Crazy people. Neil..."

"Hm?"

"Are you sure you're okay..."

"Yeah. Of course I am." Neil said going up the stairs towards his room.

"Alright. Just don't try and kill yourself." replied his brother turning on the tv to Spike where they were showing a marathon of action movies.

"Am I okay?" asked Neil quietly to himself. His Rickenbacker lay on his legs as he sat on the bed plucking the same string repeatedly without thinking. It made one sound, a sound that could create at least fifteen more sounds with a million combinations. The lights in his room were turned off and all he could hear other then himself plucking was the sound of a the occasional car passing by and his brother watching action films.

...I still don't know why or how it happened...

"It's happening again." said Neil to himself. He stopped plucking and started to try and listen.

...you can't blame yourself for something you can't explain...

"Is it two people?"

...I guess I can't...

He stood his guitar straight and started to pluck again, but this time to a beat. A soft, nice beat. It fitted to the atmosphere of the dark room with the noise comic out of the young boys window and the conversation being played out in the boys head. He realized how this was all probably just his conscious talking to itself, but these voices sounded familiar, but he never heard them before. One belonged to what seemed to be an older man and the other to a young girl.

...wait. do you hear that...

Neil stopped plucking at once and became frightened. He put his bass down and clenched his fists as though he was prepared for someone to attack him.

...what was that?...

...someone is listening to us...

...wait...YOU...

At that point, Neil jumped and shook his head. It seemed as though the voices in his head stopped talking, but he thought he could see something before it ended. He saw something that would give him goosebumps and maybe even nightmares for the time to come. He saw something that made him know he'd seen them somewhere.

He saw flaming eyes.


	3. Only in Dreams

t was a hot day in Misaki city. Moms and their children went to the parks and public pools to cool off from the intensity of the hot heat.

Below the bridge were two teenagers laying in the grass. They were admiring the sun. One was girl around thirteen with long black hair. She wore a school uniform with black socks that reached her knees. The other was a boy around fifteen who was wearing a white t-shirt and grey sweat pants. They had been training so the boy could defend himself in case a tomogara attacked him and the girl wasn't their to save him.

"Shana." said the boy looking up into the sky.

"Yeah?" responded the girl looking at the boy.

"Do you ever think...that one day...all of this will end?"

"All of what will end?"

"You know...the war between flame hazes and tomogara."

"Don't ask me stupid questions, Yuji! Of course it will have to end sometime and we will win so don't worry about it." said the girl being rather annoyed and got up and start walking back towards their training area.

"I know...but...what will happen then...when it's over..." he responded.

The girl turned around and look at him as he looked at her. She seemed scared, but also thought about what he had just said. What will she do? What will happen?

"..."

"What will happen to me?"

"Yuji..."

"Nevermind. Let's get back to training."

* * *

><p>Neil opened his eyes to let the daylight consume him. He turn his head to the right to look at the cheap clock he bought that was placed on top of his drawer.<p>

6:39 A.M.

Time for school. It was Thursday.

Neil put on his school uniform. The only thing that wasnt dress attire was his white Converse he wore most of the time. Due to the amount of cash his brother had recieved from the courts due to Neil being kicked out of his house, he ended up attending a private school. He picked up his brown messenger bag that laid near his door. He walked out of his house carrying an apple.

He was a freshman.

"Turn to page 154. We'll be discussing the tactics Robert E. Lee used during the Civil War today." said the teacher at the front of the white board. On the board was a picture of Robert E. Lee and a map of what seemed to be Gettysburg to Neil, but he wasn't concentrating at all. He was thinking about two things: the gig he and his friends had at the "Washington's Headquarters" tomorrow night and the dream he had last night. Washington's Headquarters was a club that let tons of bands perform. The White Strips apparently performed there once so that Neil kind of jumpy in a good way.

Then he thought about the dream he had. Yet again, he couldn't remember much, but he could remember a few things. He remembered the girl getting angry about something for a minute, a bridge, and then the girl looking at him, the way someone looks when they're worried about something or they're in...

"Mr. Wright! yelled the teacher at the front of the board.

"Huh? Yes?" replied Neil looking as the teacher.

"Please tell me what play Abraham Lincoln was viewing with his wife the night he was assassinated."

...is she still there...

Neil turned his head to the right to see Amy, a girl in her class who usually knew everything to American history. She had dirty blond hair and weird blue eyes. She noticed him looking at her and mouthed out a three words.

"Our American Cousin"

"Our American Cousin, sir." he said looking back at him.

"Ver...very good. Now if you here, John Wilks Booth jumped off the balcony after he shot Lincoln. He jumped off the balcony and broke his foot when it become caught in..."

Neil stopped paying attention and gave the thumbs up to Amy who responded with a smile. Neil then looked outside. It looked like it was going to rain.

* * *

><p>The rest of school went on as usual. After school, Neil started his way home with his bag hitting his back with every step he took. His mind was still on the dream he had. He wondered about what happened after. What would the boy and girl do next? They seemed like they were in...<p>

...you...

Suddenly, everything around Neil was dyed in red shade. People moving around stopped. Cars stopped. Everything stopped.

Neil stopped, but only because his mind told him to.

"What is this..." he asked himself. He was shaking, but he kept his composure. He knew something was going to happen. He then broke out into a run. He started running, being careful of the lifeless people that stood before him. At first, he didn't know where he was running off too, but he decided it was better then standing around and letting whatever was going to happen get to him.

...YOU...

He ran faster and faster. Hoping to make it out of whatever dream he was in, but if this was a dream then it was different from all the other ones. This one was in his hometown.

...YOU...

...you don't want to know what's behind, Neil. just keep running...

"Was that another voice?" Neil asked himself.

Then, he tripped.

He fell to the concrete floor and moaned in pain. It didn't hurt that bad, but it hurt him a decent amount. He got up and kept running and he then found himself on the main road in his town. He stopped to catch his breathe. He then realized his mistake.

...YOU!...

He looked up to see something coming towards him at four hundred miles per hour. With a sword.

...move now...

Time slowed down and he realized that the thing come at him...was a girl.

And then, the ground exploded.

She hit the ground with her sword, but she missed her target.


	4. OMG

Everything was covered in smoke. The girl who hit the ground with her sword thought she had killed her target, but when she could see she realized she missed.

"What the..." she said gripping onto her sword even harder. She was angry, extremely angry.

"How the hell could he dodge that attack?" She thought looking around her. She saw the boy lying on the ground looking at her in some fear. She realized that even though the boy may have some skill, she would kill him in no time. She forced her sword out of the ground and looked at the boy gripping onto her sword even harder.

Neil looked at the girl in the eyes. They were red. On her back was a black coat that waved in the air making her look mysterious and scary. She wore a black jacket and black wore almost everything in black. Except her necklace. It was golden and ran down to her chest. In the center laid a sapphire circular object. It seemed very pretty to Neil. Then she noticed her hair. It was red as well as her eyes, but it seemed as though it was burning. She had at least be thirteen or fourteen.

He got up and stood still. The girl raised her sword towards him and looked at him dead in the eyes.

"How dare you listen to me!" she said run if towards him with all her force. She then stroke her sword at him.

Neil found his legs moving behind the girl to dodge her attack. While he passed her, he saw her look at him, but her face was different. Instead of seeing a face of anger, he saw a face of worriiness and...love?

He hit the ground and watched her strike at the cement. She turned around and looked at him with anger beyond limit.

"STOP PLAYING GAMES!" she yelled giving her all at him. She wondered why this boy seemed different to her.

He realized that this was something he could not dodge. He stood still and watched as the girl filled with anger started rushing towards him at full speed.

Then she made contact with something, but it wasn't the torch. It was a...hammer?

Neil opened his eyes to see himself gripping onto a hammer. A big one. The handle and hammer were made of stainless silver and almost all of the hammer was covered in brown cloth to act as a grip.

"What?" thought both the girl and the boy.

Realizing that he could now defend himself, the boy pushed the girl away from his hammer and backed away, holding his hammer in both hands like a light saber It seemed light to him, which was funny considering how much a hammer this big probably weighed.

She back away as well and her anger turned into confusion, but she still wanted to kill the torch.

She rushed towards him at full speed yet again. Neil realized that if he wanted to live to see another he was going to have to fight for it. He dodged her attack and tried to hit her from the back with his hammer but she hit his hammer back with her sword and pushed it away leaving him vulnerable. She tried to cut down the center, but he pushed her away by hitting her in the stomach with his foot. She fell backwards and grew extremely angry.

"How is he defending all my attacks?" she asked herself.

"Please, stop! Jesus!" Neil said putting out his hand to try and calm her down. "I'm sorry jus..."

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" she yelled attacking him even harder.

The fighting went on for about thirty minutes, but then the girl hit the boy down with her foot and he fell to the ground. As she was about to finally strike him down...she heard him.

"Please, don't." Neil said looking down at the ground. He was out of breath, in a good amount of pain, and was going to die. The girl only looked at him.

Then he opened his eyes.

The people around him moved, the area returned to it's original state, and the girl who stood in front of him was gone.

It was as though nothing happened.

The boy got up and looked around. He realized all his injuries from the fight were now gone. He couldn't believe it. What had just happened to him?

...when the world isn't what it seems like, you're probably just dreaming...


	5. Plugged In

It was Friday. Neil walked towards school. Tonight he would be playing at Washington's Headquarters in the town next to his. All of their instruments they would use tonight were already their.

The Instincts

Anthony Cheng - guitar, back up vocals

Edwardo Ronaldo - drums,

Neil Wright - bass, back up vocals

Jeff Sheldrick - piano, lead vocals

As Neil sat down at his desk, he watched other classmates walk by him. He looked at some of the girls and saw that some of them were really cute, but they were the type that wouldn't go out with him. He looked at their skirts and dazed off.

Then he felt something hit the back of his head. It was a hand. And it hurt.

"Don't be a pig!" said someone behind him.

He turned around to see a girl.

It was Amy.

"What? I wasn't look-" he said looking at her.

"Yeah right! So what's up?" she said laughing.

"Um..nothing...I'm playing a show later tonight."

"Really? Like music?"

"Yeah. Would you want to go?"

"Yeah sure!"

"Alright it's at Washington's Headquarters at seven."

"Alright. I'll come!"

"Ok." he replied smiling.

"Yesterday...it had to be a dream..."

* * *

><p>Washington's Headquarters was a toliet, but a good one. The entrance was a wooden brown door (with a huge lock on the other side) that led through this hall way with somewhat crapy mural paintings of George Washington throughout history that led to this big pub with a somewhat big stage and "dance floor" below it.<p>

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! We are The Instincts!" shouted Anthony into the microphone.

"Woo!" went the audience below them.

Flobots - Handlebars

I can ride my bike with no handlebars

No handlebars

No handlebars

I can ride my bike with no handlebars

No handlebars

No handlebars

Look at me, look at me

Hands in the air like it's good to be

ALIVE

In such a small word

And I'm a famous rapper

Even when the paths're all

I can show you how to do-si-do

I can show you how to scratch a record

I can take apart the remote control

And I can almost put it back together

I can tie a knot in a cherry stem

I can tell you about Leif Ericson

I know all the words to "De Colores"

And I'm proud to be an America

Me and my friend saw a platypus

Me and my friend made a comic book

And guess how long it took

Cause I can do anything that I want cuz: look

I can keep rhythm with no metronome

No metronome

No metronome

And I can see your face on the telephone

On the telephone

On the telephone

Look at me, look at me

Just called to say that it's good to be

ALIVE

In such a small world

I'm all curled up with a book to read

I can make money open up a thrift store

I can make a living off a magazine

I can design an engine sixty four

Miles to the gallon of gasoline

I can make new antibiotics

I can make computers survive aquatic conditions

I know how to run a business

And I can make you wanna buy a product

Movers, shakers, and producers

Me and my friends understand the future

I see the strings that control a system

I can do anything with no assistance

Cause I can lead a nation with a microphone

With a microphone

With a microphone

And I can split the atom of a molecule

Of a molecule

Of a molecule

Look at me, look at me

Driving and I won't stop

And it feels so good to be alive and on top

My reach is global, my power is pure

My cause is nobel, my tower secure

I can send out a million vaccinations

Or let'em all die from exasperation

Have'em all burned leaving lacerations

Have'em all killed by assassination

I can make anybody go to prison

Just because I don't like'em and

I can do anything with no permission

I have it all under my command

Cause I can missile by satellite

By satellite

By satellite

And I can hit a target through a telescope

Through a telescope

Through a telescope

And I can end the planet in a holocaust

In a holocaust

In a holocaust

In a holocaust

In a holocaust

In a holocaust

I can ride my bike with no handlebars

No handlebars

No handlebars

The crowd cheered as the song ended and as the band started to play other songs of rock and roll. Neil let the music consume and looked around into the audience, trying to find Amy or at least someone he knew from somewhere. He saw the expressions of happiness and emotions like that on the faces of the members of the audience. He seemed happy. Everything seemed right to him. Everyone was happy and so was he.

Then he saw her. The girl who tried to kill him.

She was in the crowd. She was wearing her black attire, but without the jacket.

He almost slipped off beat of the song they were playing. He realized he couldn't let that stop him. He saw she was staring right at him. He felt a little cold, but still played on as though she wasn't there. Once they finished their song, Neil took his microphone and put it towards his mouth. If this was all real, he wouldn't go out like the others.

"This one goes out to the girl in the back with the black attire." Neil said pointing his finger in the direction of the girl. She was caught by surprised and seemed pissed when everyone started looking at her. Some people whistled and some let out some woo's.

Neil looked at his companions and they understood his motion. Edwardo clicked his drum sticks together and Jeff started playing the first parts of the song on his Taylor. The crowd bursted into cheers and started to prepare themselves to sing along to the great song.

Today - Smashing Pumpkins

Today is the greatest

Day I've ever known

Can't live for tomorrow

Tomorrows much to long

I burn my eyes out

Before I get out

I wanted more

Then life could ever grant

Bored by the chore

Of saving face

Today is the greatest

Day I've ever known

Can't live for tomorrow

I may not have that long

I'll tear my heart out

Before I get out

Pink ribbon scars

That never forget

I tried so hard

To cleanse these regrets

My angel wings

Were bruised and restrained

My belly stings

Today is

Today is

Today is

The greatest day

I have ever known

I want to turn you on

I want to turn you round

I want to turn you on

I want to turn you

Today is the greatest

Today is the greatest day

Today is the greatest day

That I have ever known

The crowd yelled in satisfaction as the boys bowed and turned off their instruments. The boys settled down and went around taking to people and getting drinks. Except Neil. He brushed pass people as he searched for the girl who tried so hard to kill him. Someone almost spilled beer on his green jacket as he passed them. It instead splat onto the floor with a loud splash that sounded like a thump

He found himself standing outside the bar looking both left and right for the girl only to see the cars passing by and the stars in the sky.

"What do you want from me." He muttered to himself as he put his hands in his pockets.

"Nothing." said a voice behind him. He turned around to see the girl behind him. Her hair was black and her eyes were a sort of brown color.

"...What am I..." he asked looking down.

"A torch..." she said looking at him with no expression.

"What's that."

"A remainder of the real you. The real you is dead."

"...but how?"

"A denizen of the Crimson World consumed you."

"So what's going to happen...to me..."

"You're going to burn out eventually. Looks like you were consumed not that long ago. You're flame is still bright."

"Which means..."

"Ugh! You ask to many questions! You are a torch and you're going to vanish pretty soon. That's all you need to know."

Neil looked at himself to see a blue flame inside of him. It made him a little dizzy.

"Won't people notice?" asked Neil keeping his composure.

"No one will have known you even existed." responded Shana looking untouched.

"But why with these torches?"

"If someone where to just disappear it would unbalance the world, but with a torch the world stays balanced and eventually the torch will burn out and it's influence will be reduced to minimum."

"Holy shit..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"So what does that make you. A human or one of those thingys?"

"I am a flame haze."

"A Flame haze?"

"Yes, a flame haze. We maintain the balance of both worlds. My job is to hunt down denizens that consume existences and destroy them like the ones that consumed you.

"What are those?"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up! You ask to many questions!"

At that point, Neil's head began to hurt. He took a step back and watched as his mind broke down for a short period of time. He remembered hearing those words. Somewhere. She seemed confused. He got back up and his mind was restored to it's normal state.

"But there's something different about you..." she said looking away.

"What?" he said looking at her.

"When I attacked you...for listening in on me...you dodged my attack..."

"That's weird?"

"It's not normal! It's not even normal for you to be running around in the fūzetsu!"

"Fūzetsu?"

"It's the most common unrestricted spell. When a flame haze or denizen cast a fūzetzu, the Crminsom world and the human world combine and time stops. "

"So I dodged your attack. So?"

"No one has ever heard of a torch that can dodge an attack from a flame haze." said the pendant on the girls chest.

"...Was your necklace just talking?" asked Neil pointing at her pendant.

"This is the crimson lord, Alastor. He helps me hunt down denizens." said the girl looking down at the pendant named Alastor.

"So is that like some type of radio?"

"Similar, but different. As a Lord of Crimson realm, I work to maintain the balance of both worlds by monitoring the Power of Existence and destroying Crimson Denizens who harm the balance." said the pendan.

"I think I'm going to go back inside. I need some Dr. Pepper." said Neil starting to go back inside.

"The reason you're so special is because of your weapon!" yelled the girl making Neil stop on his footsteps.

"You mean that hammer?" said Neil looking at her.

"Yeah."

"That hammer was pretty damn big."

"I don't care! How could a torch listen in on a flame haze and have a weapon...unless you're a-"

"Mystes." said Alastor.

"What's a mystes?" said Neil looking at the pendant and then the girl.

"It's a special torch that has magical objects which can provide special abilities or even an Unrestricted Spell inside it like..."

"I'm not certain..." said Alastor.

"Could it help us, Alastor?" asked the girl.

"There is no way I can tell now. The best thing to do is to monitor this mystes and wait until it vanishes." responded Alastor.

"Okay." said the girl walking off.

"Wait!" said Neil as she started to walk off. She stopped in her tracks and glanced at it to see what it wanted.

"What." said the girl looking annoyed.

"Whats your name? I never even bothered to ask what your name is" said Neil looking at her as her silhouette dimly glowed underneath the streetlamp above here.

She looked a little red, but somewhat annoyed and shocked.

"I don't have a name. I'm onl-"

"You say 'only a flame haze' and I swear I'll try my best to kick your teeth in."

She seemed a little pissed by that.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up! To distinguish me from other flame hazes they just call me 'the one with the Nietono no Shana'" she responded in a strong tone.

"Nietono no Shana?" asked Neil. He thought he heard that somewhere.

"The name of the sword she carries." said Alastor to Neil.

...then your name is Shana. that's what I'll call you. you're shana...

"I'll call you Shana from now on." said Neil going back inside.

This left the girl in a state of shock.


	6. About to EXPLODE

The young girl named Shana sat on the roof of the pub called Washington's Headquarters. She was shocked and spooked at what the mystes had said to her.

"If you're going to watch over me, then I'll call you Shana from now on."

"How did he..." she asked herself biting on her finger nails. She knew that the only other people who called her that lived in Misaki city and that was in Asia! She was in America! And the person who named her that was...

"No! It had to be chance!" she yelled into her mind. She seemed frustrated.

* * *

><p>"Don't let it get to you. He's just another torch. You are only here to monitor the mystes until he burns out." said Alastor in a somewhat regular tone. He too wondered how a mystes could know that much about a Flame Haze. Escpially one that it's never met. Unless...he has...<p>

"See you tomorrow." said Edwardo leaving on his bike from the pub. Neil put on his green field jacket and started walking home with his bass in a black solid case on his back. The case seemed as though it was old. He had bought it in a downstairs antique shop for fifty dollars and two lottery tickets. It had two stickers on the back. One said "TEEN SPIRIT" in white pixel font with the background being blue. The other was the logo of Newcastle United. He started whistling a tone from a band the sidewalk to his parked bike. When he made it he tied his bass down to the back. He stopped and looked in front of him to see nothing but the rest of the sidewalk and utter darkness excluding the dimly lit streetlight that hung above from sky.

"I'm going to disappear." Neil thought looking at his hands. "Shit."

He smiled, but he didn't know why.

He got in his bike and started to back out of the parking lot. He slowly ride back home listening to music from his phone. Only five words were stuck in his head.

* * *

><p>MONDAY<p>

"Yeah, but the book is way better then the movie." said a friend of Neil's as they waited for class to start. Neil listened to his friend talk, but was more concentrated on the fact that his real self was dead, but everyone thought about that, right? Then he realized that Amy never even showed up Friday night to the performance. He also realized he hadn't seen that the girl that attacked him since Friday either.

"What's the deal?" he asked his mind as he sat down hearing the bell.

He put his head down on his desk and tried to sleep a little waiting for his teacher to show up already. He tapped his foot and watched as some kids were talking with one another about which movie was better; Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back or Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. One kid talked about how Empire was better because everything gets told to the viewers in such a way that it expands their horizon while the other tried to convince the other that Return of the Jedi ended it all with a happy setting as the Rebels blew up the second Death Star. Neil realized that the conversation was worth talking about and actually wanted to get up and talk to them, but he found himself too tired to get up. He grunted at his laziness and decided to just listen to the conversation and the sounds around him.

Then he heard the seat to the right of him creak.

Amy's seat.

"Hey why didn't you show up on Friday to our gig?" said Neil in a lazy tone getting up and rubbing his eye. He didn't look at her.

"A polite person would say good morning first." responded a voice, but it didn't belong to Amy.

Neil shifted his head to the right in an instant to see a girl sitting in Amy's seat wearing the girls uniform. It was that girl.

"What the hell..." said Neil in his same lazy voice which was now becoming an alert voice.

"I said I would be observing you." responded the girl fixing her hair that flew into her face. Her eyes were serious.

"Where's Amy." said Neil looking at her with even more serious eyes. She seemed a little startled, but kept her posture.

"I'm Amy Wells now." she replied back pulling Amy's books out of Amy's desk.

"No, you're not. What did you do with her."

"You're friend, as it seems, was herself a torch that was going to burn out. I just helped her reach her end that's all."

"You..."

"Everyone's going to look at you if you react."

"You..."

"Sit dow-"

"YOU, BITCH!" yelled Neil jumping out of his seat. "YOU THINK THAT THIS IS JUST NORMAL? YOU THINK THAT IT'S JUST REGULAR! WELL IT'S NOT! HOW CAN YOU JUST WALK AROUND THINKING LIKE THAT? HOW CAN YOU THINK THAT IT'S A NORMAL OCCURRENCE? YOU THINK THAT YOU'RE PURE AND HOLY AND THAT YOU'RE DOING THE WORLD A FAVOR, BUT YOU'RE WRONG! YOU'RE JUST A MONSTER YOURSELF!"

Oh, damn.

Everyone around him was shocked, including Shana.

The guys around Neil wanted to do something, but they decided to let it play out. Then his teacher walked in.

"Hey what's go..." said his teacher putting down his laptop and books on his desk.

"I'm taking a leave of absense today. Have fun, Shana." interrupted Neil grabbing his bag and moving towards the door.

"Alright...you kids can turn your books to page 495 where we'll be discussing about the upset the Western Miners sturred in..." said the teacher.

Shana couldn't believe that happened. She wanted to scream at him and kill him, but for some reason cry as well. It had happened before, but...

"Don't listen to that jerk, Amy." said a girl passing her and putting an arm on Shana.

"I can't believe Neil attacked her like tha..."

"Have you ever seen him ever blas..."

"What a dick..."

"I feel so bad for Amy..."

"What the hell was he talking abou-"

"Is Shana some sort of nickname? Like an anim-"

"But Luke gets his hand cut off and finds out Darth Vader is his real da-"

She stood still for a second and watched as everyone got out their books.

"What...just happened? That mystes..." she yelled into her head clenching onto the history book, but not opening it. She was scared, not angry, but also saddened to which she asked herself "why?". She wondered if she really did she a tear drop fall from the mystes's face as he hurried past her.

"Ms. Wells!" yelled the teacher directly towards Shana. "Would you like to tell me how come you haven't opened your book yet."

Shana immediately snapped out of her shock and grinned at the mans question. She was happy she could make a fool of somebody again. She looked up a the man with a straight face and scared the man when she started pointing out the flawless errors in his teaching methods. But she still thought of the mystes.

* * *

><p>Hours had passed.<p>

Neil found himself sitting down on an empty playground bridge holding onto the rusty metal colored sides. He let go and laid down on the bridge and let the light blue sky consume his sight.

"She's gone? How can someone say something so cruel and not care?" he asked himself hitting the dirty floor with his left hand. He didn't cry anymore. He realized that crying would only make it worse.

"I'm so sorry, Amy. If I had known you'd be gone..." said Neil out loud.

"Why are you crying, mister?" said a voice below him. It belonged to a girl.

Neil got up to see a girl around five looking at him. Her hair was curly and she was sucking on a loli-pop. She also had a band-aid of on her right ankle of Bug Bunny with his infamous carrot near his mouth.

"Oh hello...a friend of mine went away..." he said to her wiping his moist eyes with his dark blue uniform sleeves.

"Where did she go?" she asked. She had a type of lisp that would annoy others, but not Neil. He actually thought it was cute.

"She went to a nice place, but I won't see her again."

"Why not?"

"Because she...she had to go."

"Did you say goodbye to her?"

"No and I wish I did..."

"Don't worry, mister. You'll see her again. You just gotta be happy now, see?" said the girl putting on a smile with her fingers. Neil laughed and watched as a woman about thirty came over and picked up the girls hand.

"I'm so sorry. I hope she didn't bother you." said the what seemed to be mother of the child.

"Not a problem. You have a lovely child." responded Neil smiling.

"Thank you. Say goodbye to the nice boy, Samantha!"

"Bye!" said the girl smiling and waving her hand. Neil waved back and smiled and watched as the both left hand in hand.

He got up and looked out onto the rest of the fairly large empty playground that laid below him. He realized that to cry now would be a waste for someone who had lived a good life. He wants to live here, to live now. He strapped on his messenger bag and slowly walked out of the park vowing not to feel sad his last days, but instead enjoy them.

And then the sky turned red.


	7. On the Run

Neil turned around and saw the sky had been dyed yet again in red. He thought of the only people Shana told him about that were possible of casting whatever this was. Neil started to clear his mind and focused on his surrounding area. He made sure that he was ready for anything. Taking one step backwards, he started to run.

Then something grabbed his shoulder.

"So you've been hiding here, eh?" said a voice.

Neil turned around to see a male. He was terrified.

The male wore a black vest with a button down white shirt white slacks, and brown Italian shoes. He had an earring in his right ear and wore a small top hat in black. His grip became tighter on the boys shoulder and a small grin grew from the males face.

In one move, he threw the young boy to the chain wall.

"Shit..." said Neil trying to stand up. He was in pain, but he could stand.

"Well this is going to be too easy." said the male moving towards him at a regular pace. He then picked him up by his throat and lifted him in the air. His grip grew tighter and tighter around the boys neck as the boy started to suffocate. The male smiled as Neil started to lose his will to live.

Until they both heard a boom.

"Let go of him now." said a voice. Shana.

"Well look what we has here. A flame haze." said the male.

"The flame-haired, blazing-eyed hunter too you, denizen!" she replied back to him looking ready to strike at him. She had her black coat on her back with her sword in her hands, but she wore her school uniform instead of her regular clothes. She wore a white button down shirt, checkered dark blue and her black long socks.

This was going to get ugly.

"Shan-" said Neil, but the tomogara let go of him and kicked him hard towards Shana.

He hit her and the both fell to the ground. Neil opened his eyes to see Shana ontop of him. He felt a little red seeing this. She opened her eyes and brushed it off. She got up and head towards the tomogara leaving Neil on the floor.

Neil, still in pain, watched as the two fought it out in the sky. Her sword aganist his fists. It seemed impossible for someone to win a battle like this.

...you can do something...

"Like what?" Neil thought. The voice...

Neil felt a tingling sensation in his left hand. His strumming hand.

He watched and watched the fighting and realized that the girl was growing weaker and weaker. Shana threw everything she could from her sword at the male, focusing on the final blow. The tomogara dodged her attack and threw in as many punches as he could. Needless to say, he was landing more blows on her then she was on him. Neil realized he needed to help her, but what could he do?

Then while trying to cut the tomogara into two, Neil watched as she was hit in the face and fell down to the ground.

She moaned in pain and put her hand towards her nose and noticed the blood trickling down.

"Hurry!" said Alastor in a serious tone. He worried is his companion could fight on.

"I...I can't get up." she said slowly trying to move herself up. She watched as the tomogara slowly approached and stopped dead in his tracks right in front of her. "Why can't I get up! He's not even that powerful!" she wondered trying to move up.

"Let's finish things quickly. I want to go see what that mystes has inside him. I can't stop thinking about what it is!" he laughed preparing to end her. "Goodbye, flame haze."

...now...

"SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH."

* * *

><p>It happens in only one in one million people. When you're surrounding by nothing and no one on a fucking iceberg trying to survive by eating the ice and drinking the salt water wishing mami and daddy came to hold you and bring you to safety and you'd eat a plate spagetti and meatballs for dinner and go to bed fast asleep dreaming you're a celebrity standing on the top of world looking down everyone once and a while to see how it's going down there. Well that isn't going to happen. Not now. Not ever. It's not like you had a choice. It just happened. A series of events that led to you questioning your existence and wishing this never happened. Wishing and hoping a god truly existed so he could save you from your nightmares. In the end, the only thing we can use is our wits. And a shitload of luck.<p>

* * *

><p>"Eh?" said the tomogara turning around. He saw something he couldn't believe. That Shana couldn't believe. That Alastor couldn't believe.<p>

In the sky was a boy with white eyes. His body was covered in the perfect shade of black. In his hand laid a silver hammer. A very big one.

"YOU HEARD ME." said the voice.

"Well looks like I am going to have some fun today." said the tomogara smiling. He rocketed off to the sky and tried to smash the boy in the face only to have it blocked by the boy and be sen flying off with one swing from the boys hammer. The tomogara brushed it off and castes an unrestricted spell that made exact copies of himself that surrounded the boy.

"Is...is this happening?" said a shocked Shana. She was shaking. She was scarred.

"Yes, it is." said Alastor. It was safe to say that he was shocked as well.

"Choose wisely." said all the tomogaras laughing.

"I CHOOSE YOU." responded the boy hitting one of the tomogaras right in the face. The real one.

"You little brat!" said the tomogara putting a hand to his face and feeling it for any blood. There was none, but it still hurt. Then he rushed at him yelling at the top of his lungs.

Then the boy took him by the head when he finally reached him.

"Too easy." whispered the boy into the tomogaras ear.

Then in one hit, he hit the tomogaras head with his Fender Mustang and the tomogara fell bursting into blue flames before he could even hit the ground.

Shana watched in amazement and fright at the same time as the boy bursted into a white light that blinded her.

And then, everything was silent.

She opened her eyes to see that the fūzetsu had been dropped. She quickly transformed looked around to find the boy on the ground.

She ran over to him as fast as she could wondering if everything that just happened was real or not.

"..."

She gasped as the boy start to get up slowly.

He then lifted himself up to look into her normal eyes. They were pretty.

He nodded to her putting on a smile.

She nodded back putting on a small smile. It was hard to see, but Neil saw it.

They slowly walked out of the park in silence.

* * *

><p>"Thank you...for saving me." Shana finally said breaking the silence.<p>

"Your welcome." he said walking towards his home. Seeing how she was to keep an eye on him (and her new home was empty and dull), she followed him.

"Sorry about calling you a bitch and saying that you're a monster at school." said Neil scratching his head.

"You made me look like an idiot." she said looking at him in a weird unknown face and tone.

"Well you told me I was dead, so I guess we're even." he responded smiling and laughing.

She created a small smile on her face that Neil could see. He knew she was alright.

"So if you like need a place to stay while you're watching me, I guess you could stay at my house." he said looking at her.

"Fine with me, but..." she said stopping in her tracks.

"Eh?" said Neil stopping as well and looking at her.

"You try anything...and I'll kill you."

"..."

"..."

"Please. My hobbies don't go that far." said Neil in a sarcastic voice.

Shana felt goosebumps.

Shana then punched him in the stomach.

They past a few stores on their way to Neil's home.

Then something caught Shana's eyes.

"Wait here." she said in a somewhat anxious voice running off into a small grocery store.

"Eh?" said Neil watching her run off.

He waited for a good ten minutes and watched as she came out of the store holding a brown paper bag with a receipt stapled onto the top closing the bag.

"Let's hurry!" she said looking as though she had to pee.

"Okay?" he said running in the direction of his home with the flame haze girl.

...but sometimes, you don't want to kill yourself. because what you're doing can save the lives of millions of others...


	8. Slumber parties and Bass solos

"And what is this I see with my eyes?" asked Rob watching Neil walk in the door.

"Hey, Rob." said Neil shutting the door and heading upstairs.

"Take a shower. You reek of sweat." said Rob lifting up his newspaper and sitting back into his comfy seat in the living room.

* * *

><p>"Just don't make a lot of noise or else my brother will get extremely suspicious." said Neil opening the door to his small porch to a young girl in a school uniform holding a bag.<p>

"I'm not stupid." she said passing by him and sitting on the bed and pulling something out of the bag full of food. Melon bread.

"What's that?" asked Neil pointing at the big circular food.

"Melon breed." she said biting down on one and enjoying it to the fullest extent.

"Never heard of it." said Neil sitting on the chair next to his laptop. He turned on his stereo to hear Nirvana playing.

"Here." said Shana extending her arm which held a melon bread.

"No thanks. I'm alright." he said smiling and turning off the amp that had been on apparently.

"Good. More for me." she responded pulling in her arm quickly and tearing the plastic from the melon bread and biting into it.

"I'm going to go take a shower. I smell like absolute crap. Maybe you might to want to take one when I finished."

"And what's that supposed to mean!" she exclaimed getting a little pissed.

"Nothing! I-" said Neil slamming his door shut before the clock she threw hit him in the face.

* * *

><p>Minutes of silent sitting passed.<p>

"This torch seems strange." said Alastor in a voice that made him sound like he was thinking.

"Other then the fact he just killed a tomogara!" responded Shana looking at down at the pendant on her chest.

"Have you noticed how his Power of Existence didn't deplete much when he finally destroyed the denizen."

"You'r...you're right..."

Shana pushed that out of her mind and looked at the white and black bass that stood at the foot of the boys bed. She picked it up and sat back down on the bed. She sat on her legs and plucked a string with her first finger. She listened to it's deep tone as it seeped into her ears, destroying the utter silence that swept the room before. She closed her eyes and listened to it fade away. She opened her eyes after a while and put it up the right way. She plucked it more and more trying to create some rhythm she could please herself with. She smiled at herself.

"What am I doing." she asked herself cheerfully.

She looked at the neck of the bass and started to run her hands up and down the chestnut wood and felt as the frets bumped into her fingers.

"Having fun?" asked a showered Neil with a small towel in his hand. His hair still seemed a little wet to Shana (which bothered her). He was wearing a loose white shirt that said "Supergrass" with three painted faces screaming on the front, and grey pajamas. She ignored the question and placed the bass on the bed

"Your hairs still wet." she said looking as some water dripped from one his hairs.

"Oh, well aren't we all." he said smiling and drying his hair with the towel. "So I got the shower ready for you if you wanna use it. Just turn the knob all the way to the right when you're done quickly or else you'll get doused in cold water."

"Alright." responded a straight toned Shana getting up and leaving the room. She made her way towards the sound of hissing and water tapping the floor.

Then she saw someone.

She posed herself in a position as though she was going to attack someone

"Don't be alarmed. I'm gay. I'm also Neil's older brother." said a voice coming from the stairs. The voice reached the top of the stairs and appeared to be a male around his twenties in a shirt that said "YMCA" in with "Y" being different from the others. He also wore black shorts. He held a black cup of what seemed like coffee but was really hot water and squeezed lemon.

"Hi." said Shana seeming a little pissed at his ways.

"Save your hellos for later. I can tell you seemed pissed at me and it's alright. I do startle people a lot. My name is Robbie. Pleased to meet you. So did Neil bring you here with his boyish charms?" asked the man laying aganist the wall.

"I'm a friend of Neil's. My name is...Shana. My...parents are away on a business trip in Japan right now so I asked if I could stay here until they return, if that's alright with you." lied Shana. In reality, both Amy Well's parents were gone as well.

"Oh by all means, make yourself at home. Is there any paper crap I have to sign to look over you or something because I'm not the best at those sort of things."

"No."

"Well that's good. So I'm guessing you're going to take a shower."

"Yes."

"But you don't have any other clothes! Here hold on a sec." he said scuffling off into a room Shana took as his. He came back a second later with a pair of pajamas and a white shirt that said "three chords" in red common font. It was a girls shirt, though. "Try these and hopefully they'll fit you. If not then just ask Neil for something and I'm sure he'll find something for you to wear." said Rob holding out the clothing in his hands.

"Thank you...who's is this?" asked Shana holding out the shirt in front of her.

"Lets just say it belonged to Neil, and then it didn't." said Rob smiling and walking to his room with his hands in his pajama pockets. Shana watched as he left her eye sight and walked into the bathroom shutting the door behind her and locking it.

* * *

><p>As Shana showered, she wondered about what Neil's older brother meant about the shirt. She stopped washing her hair and peered over to the shirt that lay on top of the pearly white counter. It looked as though it was about to fall. She then focused on how he was able to destroy the tomorgara they had fought this afternoon. She remembered how much anger she could sense from just looking at the boys white eyes. His guitar made a fierce statement that he was not to be messed with. But she also realized that this was the first time she had seen this in the boy. When she had fought him, he didn't appear as a black and white figurine, but instead just had his hammer in his hand and amateur fighting skills. Something wasn't right and she knew that she wouldn't be leaving anytime soon.<p>

"Alastor..." she said looking down at her bare naked self.

"Yes?" responded the red pendant that laid below the shirt she was given on the counter.

"Do you know what type of hōgu this mystes might have inside him." Shana asked uncapping the shampoo bottle on the shower floor and watching it squeeze out light green solid liquid onto her hand.

"That I do not know, but I also wonder what it could be. Either way, we should stay here and protect the mystes from any other crimson denizens that might come searching for it's powerful hōgu." answered the crimson lord.

"Right." she responded with as she washed her hair with the shampoo. A small part of her was a little happy she would be staying for a while. But she didn't really notice it.

"So you're using it again."

"What?"

"That name. You're using that name again."

"I...have no idea..."

* * *

><p>...no one's going to judge you if you dance like a crazy maniac, but they'll judge you if you pull out a revolver and place it against their temple asking if they could loan you some money while a Louis Armstrong song plays peacefully in the back round on the gramophone while you splat their brains out...<p>

* * *

><p>Neil sat on his bed and looked outside at the open night sky with the town looking at him. He didn't remember anything except for when he felt a tingling in his hands and then him getting up and the monster man getting up. He obviously knew that he killed the male, but what he kept asking himself was how did he do it? He looked at his hand for a good minute and snapped out of it.<p>

He went to his closet and grabbed a black case from the closet floor. He opened the case up and watched as the top opened to reveal his classical guitar he had received from Argentina. He put the case away and sat on the floor with his back against the side of the bed. He watched as his fingers started to strum the g chord over and over and then stopped himself.

"Play something, godamnit." he yelled into his head.

Yesterday - The Beatles

Yesterday, all my troubles seems so far away

Now it looks as though they're here to stay

Oh I believed in yesterday

Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be

There's a shadow hanging over me

Oh yesterday seemed suddenly

Why she had to, go I don't know

She wouldn't say

I said something wrong, now I long

For yesterday

Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play

Now it looks as though I'm here to stay

Oh I believe in yesterday

Why she had to, go I don't know

She wouldn't say

I said something wrong, now I long

For yesterday

Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play

Now I need a place to hide away

Oh I believe in yesterday

Neil stood still for a second and spaced out. He realized he was a little tired and wanted to sleep. Today seemed too fast for him. He wished last week was like this week. Just gigs and school.

"You're good." said a voice. He moved his head up to see a Shana wearing Robs shrunken pajamas and...a t-shirt that said "three chords".

"Thanks. I've been a fan of music all my life." said Neil smiling a little but looking down at the guitar. He got up and out it back in his case and put it in the closet. "Hey, where did you get that shirt?"

"Uh I found it on the floor." Shana lied immediately knowing that he wouldn't falling for it. She laid her other clothes on the desk.

"..."

"Fine. Your brother gave it to me."

"Robs!" yelled Neil threw the walls. They weren't sound proof.

"Go get 'em, little bro!" said a muffled voice coming from the other side of the wall.

"It's nothing." said Neil rolling his eyes and putting his Rickenbacker in it's case and putting it against the wall near his Marshall amp.

"Alright." said a somewhat curious Shana. She sat on the bed and started to bounce up and down.

"Alright. So. Are you hungry or anything?" said Neil tapping his fingers on his desk. He laid on back of the closet door. Shana pulled out a melon bread from the bag and gave him a facial expression that said "Are you retarded?" to Neil.

"Soo...I guess I'll see you tomorrow. I'll go sleep downstairs on the futon-" said Neil moving towards the door and pointing his hand out of the room.

"No you aren't." said Shana who stopped bouncing at the sound of this.

"What." said Neil looking at her. "She isn't thinking about sharing a-" thought Neil.

"We have to keep a good eye on you whenever we can until you disappear." said Alastor in a firm voice.

"Even when I'm asleep?" asked Neil seeming weirded out by this.

"Whenever we can." repeated Shana with a "Don't mess around with me." glare.

"I guess I'll go get some pillows and sheets from the closet down the hall" said Neil moving towards the door. "What the hell?" said Neil down the hallway.

"I heard that!" exclaimed an annoyed Shana.

* * *

><p>11:00 P.M.<p>

"Hey are you awake?" asked Neil starring up at the ceiling.

"I am now." said Shana seeming annoyed.

"I just wanted to say thank you."

"Hm? For what."

"For looking out for me these last days I live."

"Well it's just so that we can stop any tomogaras that try to take use you for their advantage."

"I know that, but thank you. Even though these are my last days, I'm going to live them as though they're my best days and if I think about they really are. So thanks for staying until I die out.

"..."

"Well goodnight, Shana."

"...goodnight...Neil..."

Shana turned over to the other side of the bed facing the wall and reprocessed what he had just said in her mind. "Is he happy he's going to dye? Ugh! He's...just like..." she thought and then tried to go to sleep.

She stared at the ceiling and then at the sleeping boy and wondered what would happen these next days. More importantly, what would she do after he dies out.


	9. Up, Down, Left, Right, Select, Start

Neil opened his eyes to the new day. He then looked at the clock on the floor near the door.

"6:30. Shit, school." thought Neil looking up at the ceiling. Then he looked at the girl sleeping in his...shirt and pajamas. Brushing that aside, he got up and went towards his closet trying not to wake up Shana. But he did.

"Good morning, sleepyhead." said Neil looking for his white Converse down below his closet. He had his white polo shirt and black slacks in his other arm.

"What are you doing." responded Shana

"I have school. I don't know what you do

"It's impolite to ask people their age." said Shana in a pissed tone hitting Neil in the back and gathering her clothes from the desk and returning to the bed. Neil shut his mouth so he didn't say anything to piss her off. "What am I supposed to do with this." asked Shana pointing at her sleeping attire.

"Um...you know what, keep it." he said showing off a small smile and turning around back to his closet.

"Alright..." she said looking down at her new pajamas.

"Well I'm going to go change and I'll wait for yo...what are you doing." asked Neil turning around to see Shana taking off her shirt.

"Changing." said Shana in a normal voice looking at Neil. She stopped herself just in time to stop herself from revealing her breasts so she could answer his question.

"Yeah, I can that..."

Then Shana remembered that this wasn't ordinary.

"GET OUT!" she yelled at the top of her lungs picking up a pedal on the from and throwing it at Neil. He caught it and put it down on the floor and ran for the door.

"Ok! I'm leaving!" he said slamming the door.

"Ugh! I can't stand it!" complained Shana in frustration. She took the talking pendant and out it below a pillow on the bed and then took off the shirt and threw it on the ground

"I don't even know what makes me so angry about this torch, Alastor! Ugh!"

* * *

><p>"Anyways, the book is better then the movie."<p>

"So I've heard..."

"So how did last night go?" said Rob smirking as he passed Neil two plates of eggs and bacon. He wore his shirt and boxers.

"I didn't do anything with her." said Neil looking a his somewhat overcooked eggs compared to Shana's he moved his hand to swap plates, but he had a feeling she would know and he didn't want another bruise.

"What are you gay?" said Rob chugging down the rest of the orange juice from the carton he had poured into two glasses for them.

"I'm gonna go check up on her." said Neil heading for the stairs.

"Is that what they're calling it now?"

"Screw you."

* * *

><p>"Hey we got some brea-" said Neil opening the door to his bedroom.<p>

A grave error on his behalf.

Neil stood at the door of his room to see Shana near the bed wearing nothing but her unbuttoned school shirt and her underwear which were partially blocked by the skirt she was holding up. She also wore her black socks.

She didn't take his intrusion lightly.

* * *

><p>"So in the end, the good guy gets brutally murdered by the bad guys because they thought he was the bad guy all along and he goes to purgatory and sits in a plastic white chair as the credits roll. What the hell happened to you?" asked Jeff pointing at Neil's huge bump on his head as he walked into the classroom door.<p>

"I fell down the stairs..." said Neil grinning and feeling his bump.

"Be more careful next time." said Shana passing by him to her desk. She seemed very annoyed.

His two friends looked at her and then him.

"Alright listen up, bitches. I got us a gig with playing with another band." said Anthony looking at both Jeff and Neil.

"Who, what, where, and why." asked Neil sitting ontop of his desk making sure he had a perfect balance.

"It's at the Thirty Turtle at six Thursday evening. And Jeff invited the whole entire class. Probably to impress the girls, the little turd. And it's with Fecal Matter, Brightside, and...Voices of Javi.

"I hate you so much." said Neil putting his head down and mummiring curse words under his breath. All Anothiny could make out was "I hate you." and "I'll show you no mercy." He wondered if Edwardo, who was a grade higher then all three of them knew about this performance. Most likely.

"A gig is a gig is a gig is a gig is a gig is a gig, Neil! Maybe you can get your shit together and stop thinking for yourself and start thinking for the band." said Anthoy patting Neil's back only to get a death glare in return.

"Bu-"

"For the band!"

* * *

><p>"Move it!" said the boys gym teacher. He blew his whistle and the soccer game started up again and the boys started to go at each other while the females watched on after finishing their volleyball matches. Needless to say, Shana dominated the field.<p>

The gym uniforms were the same for both girls and boys. Just causal white shirts with blue shorts, but Shana still wore her long black socks.

Shana sat down on the edge of the sandy field and watched as the boys went at each other on the fields below them. Neil was on the bleachers with seven other kids.

"You were amazing, Amy! I never knew you could play like that!" said a girl sitting down beside her and handing her a plastic water bottle. The girl unscrewed the cap as fast as she could and gulped down all the water her throat could take.

"Thanks." said Shana not paying attention to her and putting down the water bottle beside herself. She watched the movement of the boys and realized that she could take them all on. They were all pathetic to her, really. Except the mystes. He had skill. And luck.

"Donavan, out! Wright, you're in!" said the male gym teacher.

The teacher blew his whistle. Only two minutes left.

Neil hadn't player soccer lately due to his broken arm (don't ask), but he tried his best to get back into the game.

Neil was passed the ball by the other forward and from there, it was Neil's territory.

He zig-zagged passed offense and midfield and easily schooled defense and scoring in the up lefthand corner.

He ran back to his team mates and was greeted with a series of gratitude at putting them in the lead.

"He's really good." said the girl with dirty blonde medium hair.

"I guess." Shana responded looking at Neil. She wondered who the real Neil Wright was and if he was anything like his remainder. Then she wondered who would be more annoying when asking questions.

"Hey, all of us girls are going to watch Neil, Anthony, and Jeff play at the Thirsty Turtle on Thursday. Do you wanna come?" asked the girl looking excited just to bring it up.

"S-sure." responded Shana not even knowing what she was saying. "What am I doing?" she asked herself in her head.

"Alright! It'll be fun!"

* * *

><p>"Bring the last amp down, Neil? My back is just so soar." said Anthony going back downstairs with the rest of the band.<p>

"Lazy ass." mumoured Neil below his breath .

As Neil went to the door to his basement, Shana came down from the stairs still in her uniform as always. She stopped at the bottom step and watched as Neil passed her carrying a huge Marshall amp. He noticed and stopped right at the basement door.

"Hey, our practices are a kind of 'no girls allowed' type of thing so if you want to hang out in my room or just play some 64 that'd be nice." said Neil scratching his head about the whole pickle.

Pickle.

Shana passed him, stepped on his foot and went over to the living room. He moaned in pain for a sec, but realized he was a bad person now a days when talking to girls.

Shana sat down on the comfortable green seat and watched the tv screen tha was already alive. It showed a man with somewhat long dirty blonde hair with a guitar. He was sitting on a stool with three other people in the center only a small stage. He sung a song that sounded pretty nice to Shana. She noticed that her finger was sort of taping the beat and immediately stopped.

"Having fun?" asked a voice. She thought it was Neil, but it wasn't.

It was his brother.

"Thank you for letting me stay here." she said ignoring his question.

"Anytime. You seem a little bothered by something."

"It's nothing..."

"If it's nothing, it's something. Got any questions you want answers too?"

"What's with the problem with that t-shirt I was wearing?"

"Oh that...well someone new was going to find out eventually. Last year, Neil was dating this girl called Laura. They were a really nice couple. He made the t-shirt you're wearing after a song he wrote with no words but the most beautiful rhythm. She gave it to her, but she said she didn't want it. They both loved everything one another did and then eventually she started to grow out of him. Eventually he found out she was cheating on him for the past two months with a jacked guy and he went nuts. He dumped her and he started to become depressed. Now she's in a band as a piano player with the guy and two other girls called 'Voices of Javi'"

"..."

"Yeah. He had it rough, but I'm actually seeing some improvement these past days."

"How?"

"One month ago, he tried to kill himself by jumping in front of a moving truck with a suicide note is his hand so I don't know if he's improving or not. You tell me. You're the a girl sleeping in his bed."

"..."

"..."

"What happened to his parents..."

"...I'll let him tell you that..." Rob said moving for the kitchen.

"...and in other news, a teacher at Schmidt School broke his leg after jumping out a second floor window after being mouthed off by a student. More after these commercials..." said the tv after the other man on the guitar went away.

Shana had found herself in the world of Neil Wright, a depressed boy who just didn't know what to really do.

His world sucked.


	10. If She Only Said Yes

"So we'll practice tomorrow at three and then move all our shit in your brothers car." said Anthony riding away with the other three boys on their bikes. Neil waved as they rode off into the sunset (no homo). He walked back inside to his living room to see his brother watching a program about a band and their drug sexed life together.

He just caught a glimpse of a guitarist throwing his guitar into the crowd and hearing someone yelp in pain. It made him laugh, the sick bastard.

He walked up the stairs to his room to hear a loud music blowing out of his stereo. It was the Black Keys.

He opened his door to see Shana on the balcony with her head on her hands which were on the silver railing keeping her from falling. Neil made his way to the stereo and turned it down a little which startled Shana. She saw that it was him and turned back to the railing.

"Since when did a flame haze have a taste in music?" he asked picking up the various cd's he owned that were scattered all across his floor. He looked at the albums to see Nevermind, Magical Mystery Tour, Toxicity, Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness, and at least twelve more.

"I was bored." said Shana looking out at the empty street to see a yellow car pass by. It seemed a little old, but still regular.

"Did you pick these out yourself?" he asked spreading them all out neatly on the floor.

"Does it matter."

"No...just asking."

"This album playing right now is nice." she said coming back inside and sitting on the chair near the desk. She was still in her uniform. It kind of annoyed Neil.

"It's called Brothers. You want it?" he said passing the empty album for her to browse at.

"Why?" she asked looking at him them the album.

"It beats listening to nothing on the road. I won't need it when I disappear." he said smiling and looking at one of the other albums.

"Ok..."

"Think of it as a reminder of Neil Wright."

She looked up at him and then down at the album. She smiled back, but tried to not show it.

"Who are you." asked Neil looking at Shana stare at the album.

"..." Shana's eyes blurred a little. All she could see from the cover now was a black box with lines of white and red transforming together to form a blob. She wasn't crying, she was spacing out.

"What happened to you..." Shana asked Neil who became confused, but noticed how she seemed depressed or something like that.

"What do you mean." he asked.

"Her name was Laura, right."

"RO-"

"SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!" yelled Shana to him.

Then she slapped him in the face.

Both of them looked at each other asking their minds "Did that just happen?"

They didn't know it both the song playing from the album was called "Never Gonna Give You Up".

They both looked at each other in there damn eyes. Her eyes were brown, his were as well. But somehow, they both felt like the eyes of the other were a different type of brown. A brown you never could see a lot. A good brown.

"Just tell me..." Shana finally said looking down at her legs wrapped around her black socks.

"She's an ex. That's it..." said Neil looking at the black wheels of the chair Shana sat in. His face felt numb.

"Tell me everything!" she said still looking down, but with a stronger voice. A voice that seemed raspy.

"She was the best girl in the world...and I..." he started to cry.

Shana looked up to see him crying, but not letting out. You know, when tears start running down your eyes, but you never bawl. Tears of infinite sadness that multiplied by the minute from his eyes. She felt herself wanting to hug the mystes so tightly and telling him that everything will be okay.

"Finish!" she found herself yelling at him. She was on the verge of tears, but she held back.

"I..."

Hands to eyes. Eyes make contact with hands. Hands feel wet.

Shana wanted to tackle him. Tackle him and brush her head deep into his chest and cry for him. She wanted to never let go of him until the moment passes and he feels better and grabs his guitar and starts playing a song that will make her fall fast asleep on his bed. She didn't care what he would think. And she was going too.

But something else happened.

She got up and moved towards his closet. He looked up to see her holding the case to his guitar. The classical one.

She put it on the ground and opened it up. She looked at the shiny guitar for a good second. It was beautiful.

She picked it up and put it safely onto Neil's lap. She then sat down on her sear and looked into his eyes. Brown.

"Play." she said in a softer tone.

He slowly positioned himself to play and held on it's neck tightly. He breathed once and closed his eyes.

* * *

><p>Three Chords - Neil Wright<p>

Three chords is a song. The best song ever written, actually. You may think that's not true, but it is. You may be asking right now yourself what does it sound like, but the thing is. You will never listen to it. Because it's the song you've never heard of. It's the one song you've always wanted to find and buy so you can play it forever and ever, but you won't and you never will. Why? Because then you would never listen to the other billions of songs (and counting) out there in the universe ever again. You'd never want to hear another piece of music again. You'd just keep listening to the same song and NEVER get tired of it. Three Chords is the only song in the universe that has never been looked down upon society, but nor looked up. Because no ones ever heard of it. And that's how it will stay. Forever.

* * *

><p>The boy finished playing and looking down at his guitar. He saw that she was stunned. Never before had she heard such...beauty in music before. It was...everything.<p>

Shana slumped to the floor and looked at Neil. They were sitting across from each other. Just about a foot of space between them.

Neil put his guitar down on the floor.

The boy moved towards the girl who couldn't feel her body. She moved her numb hands up to her face trying to block him. The boy took her wrists with his hands on put them on her legs.

He moved his face closer to hers. Her face became extremely red. She closed her eyes and left reality. She moved in closer letting whatever would happen next happen. The aftermath would be secondary.

He tapped her head like a dog.

"Thanks for listening." he said smiling.

He got up and left the room.

"..." She was dead silent.

Welcome back to reality, Shana.

"Are you well?" asked Alastor seeming somewhat touched by the boys music.

"Ye..yeah." responded Shana.

She slowly got up and moved towards the desk. The clothes she wore the previous night were still there, folded neatly.

"Three chords...is it for her?" she said out loud. She unfolded the shirt that said "Three Chords" and began to undress. She would never throw away this shirt. Ever.

* * *

><p>Neil came back to his took after showering. He need to wash away all the shit that had happened today.<p>

"Sh.." he began to stay and then he shut himself up. She was fast asleep in his bed. Griping his guitar. Alastor resided on the desk. Actually, Neil wondered if he ever slept.

"Welcome back." said Alastor to Neil.

"Glad to be here." responded Neil moving towards the desk, but still looking at Shana.

"Do not worry. She is a heavy sleeper."

"I can see that. Hey, Alastor?"

"Yes."

"What happened to her...before she came here."

"I guess it's time for that to be explained. Let's leave her to sleep."

"Alright..."

Neil took the talking pendant and left the room. He gave his eyes one last glance of her before turning off the lights and shutting the door quietly.

* * *

><p>"Speak." said Neil taking the pendant outside to his backyard and sitting down at the seats near their grill.<p>

"The flame-haired, blazing-eyed hunter or as you call her Shana has encountered a previous mystes before." said Alastor remembering everything that happened.

"Really? When?" asked Neil. He was extremely curious to what Alastor had to say.

"About a year ago."

"What happened with this mystes."

"His name...was Yuji Sakai. He was fifteen when he found out about the Crimson World. We had rescued him from certain death when we had encountered him. Like you, he had a treasure inside him and was able to walk freely in the fūzetsu. He was a strange mystes. He put his life before others. After defeating a denizen, we had found out that he had a very special treasure inside him called the 'Reiji Maigo'"

"What's that?"

"It is a very rare treasure that replenishes one's Power of Exisstence when the clock strikes twelve every night. It is sought by many denizens to use for their own benifet."

"I see. So what happened after that."

"A series of events led to Shana and Yuji almost being killed by many denizens."

"And the name I gave her..."

"Was given to her by the mystes, Yuji Sakai first."

"I felt like that was the case."

His dreams...

"What do you mean?"

"You're holding back on me, Alastor. I can feel it."

"They were good friends."

"I see."

"Another flame haze we knew realized how much danger the Reiji Maigo was when a harmful group of denizens knew where it was so she tried to kill the mystes."

"...what happened..."

"She threw herself in front of him before the other flame hazes weapon could pierce Yuji Sakai."

"...I see...what happened to him..."

"That is a question I cannot answer to this day, but we know he disappeared."

"How?" You just said that treasure could replenish someone's Power of Existence at midnight every night."

"We asked ourselves the same question."

"Wow..."

"Now it's my turn to ask you questions, Neil Wright." said Alastor which startled Neil. He wondered what he wanted know.

"Go ahead..." said Neil in a somewhat curious yet nervous tone.

"Why did you try to commit suicide by standing in the road."

"..."

"Pleas answer. I would like to know."

"Rob...love is a bitch, Alastor. I don't know if you can ever understand, but when you find out the girl you thought you had a future with ends up fucking another guy you don't know. It makes you very sad."

"But why go to such extreme lengths as to take your own life?"

"Why did the chicken cross the road?"

"I don't understand."

"No ones does, Alastor. Not even me."

"...I see..."

"It just happened. Things happen."

"If it makes you feel any better. The flame-haired, blazing-eyed hunter hasn't been this happy since..."

"She's happy?"

"It seems like it. Yes. She is finally getting to live a life again. A good one."

"That's nice."

Neil smiled.


	11. Lost and Found

Neil opened his eyes.

WEDNESDAY

He found himself lying underneath his covers. He looked at ceiling and then picked himself up.

Shana was sleeping on his bed like a baby.

He smiled. He finally knew what it was like for her. Well a little.

He looked at his clock to read 6:45.

School. I'm training instead.

He got up and went over to his closet as usually to pick his clothing. Then he heard Shana waking up.

"Morning." he said not looking back.

"...where's Alastor?" asked Shana looking at her neck.

"He's right here." said Neil revealing the pendant hanging around his neck.

"We will be training from now on." said Alastor to Shana much to he surprise.

"Alright..." said Shana still surprised that he agreed to train Neil. Neil was going to have a hard time.

"There's some cereal downstairs if you're hungry. Or you can ask my bitch of a brother to make you waffles or eggs. I'll be back around eight."

"Fine...what about school?"

Neil turned around and shrugged.

"Fuck it." he said in a regular tone putting on his ringer t-shirt.

Shana thought he had a nice back.

He left her inside his room alone in the dark with the only light coming from the balcony.

"...what do I do?" she asked herself. She fell backwards onto the boys bed and decided to rest a little longer.

Then she remembered last night.

"Was I going to...NO! I wouldn't!" she told herself softly hitting herself on the head. She remembered how she didn't care what was going to happen. The one question she kept asking herself was "If it did happen, would I had submit?".

* * *

><p>"Keep running! There's no time for rests!" yelled Alastor to Neil who stopped near a bench.<p>

"Holy crap, man! I didn't know you make people run this fast. Lemme just sit real quick." Neil said out of breath sitting on the bench.

"You humans really are slow."

"Well I just found out I'm dead so give me a break." Neil said laughing. He made a joke out of death.

Neil looked up to realize he was sitting in front of the Thirsty Turtle, the venue he and his friends would be playing at tomorrow.

It was a very big place. It was a restaurant with a huge stage for performances by bands. Bands played here regularly and this hasn't been the first time Neil has played here. There was even a balcony on the top for band members friends or family to sit and watch.

Neil smiled and promised himself that he would show Shana what it means to have fun.

"What are you thinking of?" asked Alastor seeing how confident he looked.

"Has Shana ever been to a real performance?" asked Neil.

"Of course not. She is a flame haze."

"I'm gonna try to make her see the fun side of me tomorrow...or something like that."

"Do as you wish."

"Hi, Neil."

Oh, shit. Laura.

* * *

><p>Shana sat outside on the chairs with her head on the table. She listened as music (rock, obviously) played through the kitchen window. Someone was cooking. And it smelled delicious.<p>

"Well hello again." said Rob as he appeared through the door and sat in a across from her.

"Hi." said Shana in a normal tone not looking at him.

She still had her uniform on. It annoyed Rob.

"Playing hooky today, huh?"

"What?"

"Means to skip school."

"Yeah, sure."

"So I heard about what happened last night."

"What?" Shana exclaimed. She was worried they would kick her out for what she had done to Neil.

"Don't worry. I've beaten the crap out of him before. It was time a girl beat his face in." he said lying back. He wore a black apron with the words "Cook" on it in white.

"Ok..."

"So what are your parents doing in Japan?"

"Just some business stuff, I guess." she lied. She wasn't wearing pants, but it was safe to say her pants were on fire.

"That's neat. So why not stay at your boyfriends house?" he said in a sarcastic way but it was still a question.

"I don't have one." she said. "Yuji..." she thought in her mind.

"Why not stay at another girls house."

"Does it matter?" she said in a little panicked way.

"No, just asking." Both brothers seemed the same to Shana.

"Neil's a nice boy..." said Shana looking down at the black table. It was a little dusty, but still good.

"I think learning how to play the bass got him to be like that. Music is his life."

"That's nice. I wanted to ask...

"Hm?"

"About his attempted suicide..."

"What do you want to know?"

"I mean...why did he do it..."

"He said it because he hated life and that he was empty, but some part of me wants to say that total bullshit. Excuse my French."

"Oh..."

"I just wanted to say that I'm delighted to have you here, Shana. May I call you by that?"

"Yeah, sure."

"I feel like it's doing Neil a lot."

"...what's he like..."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" asked Rob smirking.

"No-nothing! I'm just curious!" said Shana somewhat blushing and looking down.

"Well...I don't know. You have to get to know him. He doesn't say much, but when he does you know he means it...I think he's interested in you. Dinners at six. We're having baked ziti." said Rob getting up and going back inside, probably the kitchen.

"What do you mean?" Shana exclaimed. Did he mean...

"Nothing!" he said sarcastically.

She got up and looked around the back yard. Realizing there was nothing to do here, she went upstairs. She decided to rummage around Neil's things.

* * *

><p>"Oh hey, Laura! Been a while..." exclaimed Neil getting up to see her right near the front door.<p>

"About a year." she said. She wore a black jacket with white pants and sandals. She was pure mean spirited against him.

"Yeah...time flies..."

"Cut the shit...why were you talking to yourself."

"Huh? I was? Well..."

She raised an eyebrow. It kind said "I'm better then you" to Neil.

"Well I'm just gonna go..." said Neil backing up slowly.

"You go do that." she said going inside. No expression but hatred.

"I hate her so much." said Neil looking down as they walked back home.

"Do you?" said Alastor doubting what he said.

"No..."

"Who was that girl?"

"My ex."

"How did you end up being in a relationship with this girl?"

"I met her at a dance...next I know, I'm kissing her goodnight when it ends."

"Interesting story."

* * *

><p>"Why does he have so much junk?" Shana said out loud going through his drawers in his desk. The radio speaker thing was playing a song that talked about "All the young dudes". Most of his stuff was either picks or other non-cool things. Among the things she found were:<p>

•A picture of Neil and some other person in Toronto.

•A comic book that said "Issue One".

•A guide to a fantasy video game.

•A magazine called "Rolling Stone".

•Two plush doll forms of Ren & Stempy.

•And an envelope(strange)?

She took the yellow envelope out of the closet and sat on the floor laying her back on the bed. She turned the envelope around to see that someone wrote something on it in black Sharpie.

"Do not open. Please."

Shana opened it. She put her inside the envelope to find three things:

•A cd.

•A crumpled piece of paper folded into squares.

•And a picture.

She turned the blank side of the photo around to see a picture on it. It showed a woman holding a boy about three in her arms. The woman was kissing the boy on the check and smiling while the boy smiled at the woman. The woman had brown curly hair. They were in a park.

There was no doubt it was Neil.

But who was the woman?

Shana got a little happy looking at the photo. She thought the woman was beautiful and the boy was cute (as a little kid!). It was a nice photo.

She put the photo down and looked at the next item; the folded paper.

She opened the crumpled paper up slowly so it wouldn't tear. She saw that it was upside down and flipped it around. It was written in blue pen and seemed a little dirty. It was Neil's suicide note.

I find it very hard to believe that I'm dead (I was always a huge pussy in the first place). Everyday not being with her had driven me to have small fits of rage every so often. I found myself always trying to find a way to go to the boys bathroom at school so I could hide myself in one of the stalls to either do two things; cry on the piss-stained floors or punch the walls in sadness and/or anger. When I finished I would leave the stall and look at the mirror to see my eyes all puffy and red. I would see the tears fall from my face and ask myself "What's next?".

When I got back from the bathroom once, one of these assholes in my class called me a "big fat pussy" for crying. Needless to say, I went fucking berserk. I found myself running all the way over to cunt and punched him right in the jaw. I then proceeded to beat the shit out of him until someone pulled me off him and called me "A manaic". I got suspension, but I could care less.

So when all else failed, I would just listen to music that made me calm and then I'd stay in my room for two hours or so in the fetal position on my bed sobbing my heart out and telling myself to stop. But I never would. I felt like something inside me was controlling my body and I didn't want that. So here we are.

This world wasn't built for me, but I had a good life. A VERY GOOD ONE. I had a perfect brother who loved me to death and a great band. It's better this way for everyone. Rob, please take care of the house and Hilton while I'm away. Jeff and Edwardo and Anthony, move on from me and find a better bass player to lead the Instincts to fame and glory. I was a shitty bass player anyhow. You guys rock. Please stop sobbing for me. Sob for everyone else. Please don't let me down. I had it good and I'm grateful to every one of you bastards. Never stop being awesome.

I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU SO FUCKING MUCH!

-Neil Francis Wright

Shana started to tear when she finished reading. She couldn't believe what she had just read. She was also extremly surprised. She asked herself "Why is is that he tried to kill himself over a girl and not kill himself finding out he's a torch?". She realized that her tears were rolling down her check. She wanted crumple up the note even more, but didn't want Neil to find out she read it.

She put the note back in the envelope and looked at the last thing.

The cd.

She picked it up to see the front of the cover. It was a drawing of an eye (probably Neil's eye) with the word "Curiosity" in the middle of the cover in the whitest white of white. She turned it around to see names, names of songs she never heard before. Mostly because she never listened to music up until this week. She put the cd into the stereo and pressed play. After a few seconds she heard a piano and maybe a drum play with somebody humming. It was Neil. And then he sung.

Sea of Love - Phil Phillips

Come with me, my love

To the sea, the sea of love

I want to tell how much I love you

Do you remember when we met

That's the day I knew you were my pet

I want to tell you how much I love you

Come with me to the sea of love

Do you remember when we met

That's the day I knew you were my pet

I want to tell you how much I love you

Shana paused it when it ended and sat on the bed.

"His voice is...amazing..." she thought. She was stunned. She had never really heard him sing. That time he played the guitar when she came back from the shower all she could hear was the guitar because he didn't sing out loud. This was just incredible.

And then she heard his voice downstairs.

She quickly took the cd out and put it back inside the case. She put everything back in the envelope and stuck it in the exact same place it was in the closet. She sat on the bed and pretended like she was bored. She was trying to hard, but it was convincing.

"Hey, Shana." said Neil coming in to see the girl sitting on the bed. She was still in her uniform. Which was now starting to bother him even more.

"Hi." she responded looking at him.

"So what'd you do? Here." he said giving her the pendant around his neck.

"Nothing. Just waited for you to hurry up."

"Oh. Alright. Well I'm gonna go take a shower. Lemme just get my stuff." he said making his way for the closet.

"Please don't notice!" she yelled in her head watching him go for the closet.

He shut it after getting fresh clothes and left for the bathroom.

She sighed a sign of relief and flopped down on the bed.

"What did you do." asked Alastor knowing she had done something. He knew because she does things. She's a doer of things that's he knows.

Don't judge me.

"I found his suicide note and listened to a cd he recorded." said Shana.

"What else. You're not telling me everything." said Alastor knowing she wasn't telling him everything. He knows because she does'n-you get the picture.

"I also found a picture." said Shana to Alastor. "There was a woman in the photo."

"He never told us what ever happened to his parents." She said remembering the woman in the photo.

"Maybe it's time you ask him."

"...how...and who the hell is

* * *

><p><strong>Infinite playlist:<strong>

**New Slang - The Shins**

**Ocean Breathes Softly - Modest Mouse**

**All the Young Dudes - Matt the Hoople**

**Sea of Love - Phil Phillips**


	12. Thirsty, not Mutant

"Yeah, but the real story is better then the fan fictions. Hey, Neil!" said Anthony watching Neil and Shana come through the door. Shana passed them all and Neil dryer behind with Anthony and Jeff to discuss tonight's plans.

"Hey, Amy!" said the girl from gym coming up to her.

"Call me Shana. Who are you?" said Shana sitting down at her desk.

"What? It's Sandra? Don't you remember?"

"Yeah, sure. What do you want."

"I was just wondering if you wanted to hang before the concert at the Thirty Turtle."

"N-"

"Hey, Shana. Do me a favor and get out of the house while I load all the stuff into my brothers car. Alright?" said Neil passing her and giving her the thumbs up.

"...sure." Shana said to both Neil and the girl named Sandra.

"So how did it end up like this, eh?" asked Jeff loading the back of the Volkswagen Passat from the 70's. How they got it, I have no idea.

"Huh? What do you mean?" asked Neil putting down his Rickenbacker in it's case inside the car.

"There's a girl sleeping inside your house. What do you think I mean."

"Well it's a mutual friend thing. She sleeps on my bed and I sleep on the ground. Simple as that."

"And you didn't bang her. Are you gay?"

"No. I just don't want to rush myself into anything right now."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"It means I'm happy being single now."

"No. That means you're still in mourning period."

"Jus load the damn truck, Jeff."

"We ready to go?" said Rob heading the house door and going to the car.

"Yeah lemme just get my guitar." said Neil. He said it. Neil did.

"Can you believe he didn't bang her yet." said Jeff getting in the passenger seat.

"What is he gay?" said Rob getting in the drivers seat.

Neil opened the door to his room and walked over to his closet. He got his guitar in it's case and started to close the closet.

Then he saw his envelope.

He put his guitar down and picked up the envelope. But he didn't open it.

"One day...I'll burn this..." said Neil to himself looking at it like it was a bad thing.

He put it back in the closet and started to walk back to his friends.

...i'm gonna buy this place and burn it down...

* * *

><p>"But anyways, the book is way better then the movie." said a girl next to Shana conversing with another girl.<p>

Shana found herself walking with some other girls to the restaurant. They were all dressed like regular girly girls would. Shana wore what Neil's brother had given her the day after she first arrived at Neil's house.

She wore a black shirt that had a date on it and a band name. The way it was written seemed nice to Shana. Under that was a blue skirt and her black socks and some sandals(borrowed from Neil). Alastor hung from her neck. She looked good.

"Am-Shana?" said a girl near her.

"Yeah?" she responded looking at her. It was that Sandra girl.

"We were wondering...how does it feel to be sleeping at Neil's house?" another girl asked.

"It's doesn't feel like anything." said Shana.

"So how's Neil?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" She replied looking at the other girl.

"What do you think it means?"

"I don't kn..."

And then she did.

"NO! Are you kidding me! I barely know him! We're just friends!" she exclaimed looking somewhat pisses, but also embarrassed?

"Whatever, Amy." said the other girl.

"She wants to be called Shana." said another girl.

"What?"

"Just do it."

"How is Neil?" Shana asked herself. Not in the art form, but in the...regular form. What would it be like just to spend a day alone with him? Would it be nice?

...she wanted to know so bad.

* * *

><p>"You go in five." said the guy who runs open night. He was bald.<p>

"Thanks." responded Anthony.

"So what did you think of Fecal Matter." asked Edwardo hitting his drumsticks on his knees sitting on a ruined couch.

"They sounded like fecal matter. Who the hell names their band 'Fecal Matter'?" asked Jeff looking up at Neil who was sitting across from him.

"We would." responded Neil laughing.

"So how's it going with 'Shana'" asked Anthony prancing around the room. He decided to focus on other things around him so he wouldn't think about how bad he could be when he's nervous and suck when he gets on his guitar.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?"

"Did you bang her?"

"No!"

"What is he gay?"

"No, he's just a pussy." said Jeff checking his phone to see what time it was. Six-thirty five.

"Well she's out there." said Anthony peeking through the curtain.

"Already?" responded Neil getting up and popping his head through the hole in the curtain Anthony had made to see Shana sitting down at a table with a bunch of other girls on top of the balcony. She seemed very uninterested with the conversation the girls were having. She her head rested on her arms. But she looked interested I something else. She wore a t-shirt of the live concert Gorillaz threw in New York city he went to see with his brother. It was awesome.

"Hey isn't that your shirt, Neil?" said Jeff pointing at Shana.

"Ye-yeah." responded Neil looking at her. She looked lovely.

"You're up!" said the guy working the damn place.

"Alright. Let's go." said Anthony walking with Edwardo and Jeff past the curtain leaving Neil alone for a second.

Neil snapped out of his daze and walked out onto the stage.

* * *

><p>Shana watched as the four friends walked onto the stage and were greeted with a bunch of claps and shouts and other things. Shana didn't clap. She just watched. Neil came out in a green field jacket with a patch in blue and yellow on his left shoulder. He wore regular old blue jeans with some tears of course, his white converse.<p>

"Good evening, we are the Instincts." said Anthony into the mic already hooked up with his guitar.

"You suck!" yelled a person in the back.

"Yeah, well you do to buddy." said Anthony in a calm voice putting up two fingers (google it).

"1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4" said Edwardo's drumsticks clashing together.

Freak in Control - The Instincts

You just may ha-

Suddenly, a hole blasted through the wall. A man at full speed rushed towards Neil who was shocked at what he saw.

"Fūzetsu!" shouted Shana getting up from her seat and jumping from the balcony. Her big ass sword, Nietono no Shana, was gripped in her hands.

"What the hell." said Neil slowly watching the man rush towards him. The man had a big black stick in his hans. It looked Asian. He looked like that denizen he destroyed before. Wait, that means. He's a denizen! Omg!

Neil realized the threat and then...transformed.

"What!" yelled the denizen watching the boy takes a few steps away from him and dodge his attack.

The boy watched as the man came back and laughed at him. They were only feet from each other in the center of the room. Shana moved towards the boy and stood right behind him in a fighting stance.

"So the rumors are true. I didn't believe it at first. I think it's safe to say that no one could believe it. It was so...not real. But it looks it was." said the denizen look alike.

"What do you speak of, denizen." demanded Alastor.

"Ah, Flame of Heaven. Pleasant to see you. I love your flame haze she's too cute to hurt. As to what I was speaking of before it seems as though this mystes has something very valuable to some important people. Actually, to everyone everywhere."

"I knew it..."

"Maxwell's Silver Hammer."

"What! The fairly tale?" exclaimed Shana looking down at her pendant.

Then the denizen saw his time to strike.

He rushed towards the flame haze and rose his black staff.

The boy kicked him in the stomach and watched as the denizen hit the wall.

"Why not use it, mystes? I can tell you don't want to." smirked the denizen. He seemed cocky. As though he was going to win.

The boy only looked at him and Shana only looked at the boy.

"It can't be..." said Shana to her mind looking at the boy she knew as Neil Wright.

"STOP BEING A PUSSY!" yelled the denizen running at the boy will full force.

Then he grabbed his staff. The denizen looked into his to see nothing but anger and hate. What he wanted.

"SATISFIED?" said the boy in a strong tone. His voice was different, but similar to Neil Wright's voice. His hammer was in his hand

Shana saw that this was the time to strike and ran for the denizen, but he saw her and kicked her in the face. She pulled back only to recover from the pain but came back after the boy had pushed the denizen away.

"This mystes is going to get a knock on his door from every denizen around this place if he doesn't give it up." shouted the denizen in a strong tone. He grinned and licked the blood from his mouth off. Some drops hit the ground.

"You're not getting anywhere near him!" yelled Shana gripping her sword even tighter. The boy noticed and looked at her. She looked at him only in a little fright (probably cause his eyes were friggin white). And then she saw him.

Neil Wright.

The boy put his hand on her sword and slowly put it down for her. She didn't want to comply, but seeing how he didn't want her to fight for him made it seem as though he really didn't want her to get hurt. Or cared for her too much to let that happen.

"Yoo-hoo! Are we done with all the hugging and kissing? I thought we had a fight going on here!" yelled the denizen jabbing his staff around in the air.

The boy dropped his hammer in the ready position and ran for the denizen. The denizen easily dodged his attack and went around him to attack him from the rear but the boy turned quickly and blocked it with his hammer. The denizen was pushed back and ran at him again.

"Alastor...this can't be real...he has-" asked Shana in terror. She couldn't believe that the boy had Maxwell's Silver Hammer.

"Maxwell's Silver Hammer, yes. I couldn't believe myself at first. That's why I didn't tell you." responded Alastor. He kept his cool, but was as worried as Shana at what would happen in the coming time.

"I forgot all about that tale! But...that means...if he really does have it..."

"He has no become one of the most important artifacts in the Crimson war. We can not stay here any longer. We must take him and leave.""

"Right..."

The battle had become more intense as the denizen grew furious at how he couldn't lay a single blow on the mystes.

"WHY WON'T YOU JUST GIVE UP!" yelled the denizen throwing himself at the boy who jus stood there.

Then he slit him.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" laughed the denizen not looking behind him.

"NEIL!" yelled Shana running towards the spot where the boy had laid and fell on her knees. She didn't know wether she was sad about how he was gone or the fact that his treasure was gone.

"Now what to do with this brat." said the denizen grabbing Shana by the hair.

"Let go of me! You-" yelled Shana trying to push away.

"Shut it!" said the denizen slapping her.

She was pissed. He was going to kill her.

Just like he killed the mystes.

Or so he thought.

"Bang bang. Maxwell's Silver Hammer made sure that he was dead." whispered someone into the denizens ear.

His eyes widened.

It was the boy.

In a flash, a hammer hit the denizen on the head.

But that wasn't all.

The boy pushed the denizen away from Shana, relearning her hair. She fell to the ground and watched in shock as the boy murdered the denizen.

He kept hitting him in the face with his hammer. Never stopping. Going faster and faster. The denizens face was no longer there. He smashed his body was replaced with a waxed model person body. Horrific.

Shana watched in terror.

Then he pulled on the hair of the denizen and brought his destroyed face to his.

"Tell your friends that if you ever touch The Flame-haired, Blazing-eyed hunter or Neil Wright ever again, I will make sure that you fucking burn," said Neil in a whisper tone, but it was loud as hell. Shana and Alastor could hear it. "IN HELL!"

And with that the denizens head was decapitated with a single blow to the head by a bloody hammer. The denizen burned into blue flames and both Shana and the boy watched.

The fūzetsu was still around them as Shana knew she had to do something for the boy. For Neil.

He stood still gripping his hammer hard. She came up behind him.

He turned around as fast as he could. He was still alert. And Shana didn't want that.

In a flash she hugged him and buried her face into his stomach. She sobbed.

"Please don't do that again!" she sobbed gripping her tight on him ever harder. At first he didn't do anything. Then slowly, he put his arms around her. Hugging her lightly, the boy transformed into Neil Wright. His black body slowly transformed into skin covered in a green jacket and blue jeans.

Shana noticed, but didn't care.

"I'll try not to." responded Neil putting one hand on Shana's.

* * *

><p>"This next band is from right here. So let's give it up for Voices of Javi." said the mix guy getting off stage.<p>

Shana and Neil and the rest of the guys and girls sat in the balcony. Neil put his head down and watched how his ex and some girls went on stage (oh and the dick guy). The guy was a guitarist as it seemed and owned a blue Fender Jaguar. He was still a dick. Neil sweat a little seeing his ex get on stage. It was probably because she was staring right at him. Shana saw that and it bugged the hell out of her. They started playing a song and Neil left the table and went over to the bar.

"One Shirley Temple." said Neil to the bar tender giving him a dollar. He need something to cram down his throat.

"Why does she agitate you so easily?" said a voice behind him. It was Shana.

"She doesn't. I'm thirty." lied Neil. Shana didn't believe it.

"Here. Have a sip." said Neil holding out his Shirley Temple.

"What is it?"

"You're kidding. You never had a Shirley Temple?"

"Does it matter."

"Take a sip."

Shana looked at Neil for a moment to see if this was some sort of trick. She then complied. She took his drink from his hands and parted it on her lips. She take a small sip.

The she fell in love with it. Forever.

She started taking more and more sips until it was gone. Then she took the cherry inside the drink and ate it.

"My drink..." said Neil as she handed his empty cup filled with ice to him.

"Stop being a baby and go buy another one." said Shana going back to their table and sitting down.

Neil realized that the stem of the cherry was in the cup. It was knotted.


	13. They're so tired

Neil and Shana walked into his bedroom after coming back from a gig. They also killed this denizen who proclaimed that Neil had the most valuable treasure ever, but that was nothing. Shana flopped onto Neil's bed and he just fell to the floor. Both were extremely tired and wanted to sleep, but somehow didn't feel sleepy enough to go to sleep.  
>"What the hell is Maxwell's Silver Hammer?" said Neil crawling to his makeshift bed.<br>"It was a treasure from a fairy tale. It gave the person an amazing amount of power and the ability to fight back at flame hazes or denizens with a hammer." responded Shana into a pillow.  
>"That's cool." responded Neil messaging his head.<br>"Yeah, I guess." said Shana getting up.  
>She took off her shirt.<br>"Shana...you're doing it again..." said Neil looking at the back of her bra. He knew he shouldn't watch, but something compeled him to keep looking.  
>"What...oh." she realized she was so tired she didn't seem to care that he was watching. "Turn around or I'll kill you."<br>"Alright..." said the sleepy Neil turning his body around.  
>She undid her skirt and took off her shoes and black socks.<br>She stopped and turned around to see if Neil was looking. She asked herself would she try to punch him or was she too tired to.  
>"If I find out you're watching..." she started to say. She wanted to know if he was awake. His body was turned around.<br>"I'm not!" said the drowsy boy.  
>Shana went back to changing. She took off her bra and underwear and went over to the desk.<br>She totally forgot that that was the way Neil was facing.  
>She slowly turned around covering her body in her clothes to see Neil. His eyes were closed.<br>She rejoiced and went back to the bed.  
>"What is Alastor again?" asked Neil who was still somewhat awake.<br>"I am a crimson lord." responded Alastor.  
>"Wait like those dudes who can't to eat me and everyone else."<br>"There are those who want to use their Power of Existence for their own benefits and those like me who wish to maintain the balance of both worlds-"  
>"Alright. I get it. You're good. Too much information." said Neil shaking his head.<br>"Hey, Neil..." asked Shana after she fully changed and crawled into bed.  
>"Yes?" he responded wishing they'd both shut up and go to sleep.<br>"How was it like being with that girl?"  
>"It was nice...she was nice...I was nice...then she turned into a hot head bitch..."<br>"...oh...I saw you play at gym..."  
>"Oh you did?"<br>"Yeah...you're good..."  
>"I guess it ran in the family...my mom played soccer when she was my age...<br>"That's nice..."  
>"I'm tired..."<br>"Me too..."

"..."

"What happen to your parents...Neil?"

She looked up to see that he was fast asleep.  
>She hit her head down on the pillow and closed her eyes. She would ask eventually. Again.<br>When she's not tired.

* * *

><p><strong>Infinite playlist:<strong>  
><strong>I'm so tired - The Beatles<strong>  
><strong>Empire Ants - Gorillaz<strong>


	14. Gum and Tables

SATURDAY

"Today's Saturday." said Neil to Shana who woke up. He was near the closet getting some clothes.

"That's great." said Shana turning her body around to the yellow wall.

"Well you can't stay in bed all your life." exclaimed Neil moving for the bathroom.

"You're smart."

He left and she tried to fall asleep again only to find herself looking atthe ceiling and wondering what would happen in the days to come.

"Well do you want to go hang?" said Neil coming back in a pair of jeans and a green t-shirt that said "There's Always Peng". No shoes. Just bare feet.

"Hang?" asked Shana looking at him.

"Just like walk around this damned place."

"...what do you think, Alastor?"

"I suppose a little time off from your duties wouldn't be harmful. But keep an out, both of you. We can't let our guard down." said Alastor being watched by Shana and Neil.

"Yes, mom." said Neil smiling and sitting on the edge of the bed. Alastor softly chuckled. "Get your clothes on and let's go do stuff. If you want too." said Neil looking at Shana and then getting up to get out so she could change.

"That mystes is strange..." said Shana getting out of bed.

"Is he any different from Yuji Saki." asked Alastor doubting that his companion's thoughts on the mystes.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" said Shana looking at Alastor.

* * *

><p>"So what do you want to do today?" asked Neil brushing crumbs off his shirt. He had kaki cargo pants on and his white converse. He also had a black and white sweatband on his left wrist.<p>

They were in the kitchen.

"I don't care." responded Shana. She wore some sort of dressy clothing in red with a skirt. and had on some sandals that Neil had given her. Alastor hung from her neck as always.

"Well, we can go to the mall." said Neil tying one of his shoes.

"Like I said, I don't care, but sure." said Shana looking at the window.

"There's one not that far from here. I'll go ask Rob if he can drive us." said Neil walking off somewhere in the house.

"What's a mall?" asked Shana to Alastor after Neil left the room.

"Ask him." replied Alastor. He didn't really seem to care. All he wanted to do was keep that mystes safe from denizens.

"You're no help."

"Alright he'll be down in a second. I'l-" said Neil coming in the room.

"What's a mall?" asked Shana. Her face was serious. It kind of scared Neil. Because, you know, she's scary as shit sometimes.

"You've never been to a mall?" he responded thinking out loud. His head somewhat tilted.

"Just answer the question!"

"Alright! Well, it's like a hundred stores in one. It's a very big place where people come to buy stuff like jewelry and washing machines and overpriced disco balls. They've got food courts and stuff and sometimes arcades. There's usually a movie theater there too. Maybe we can watch a movie there."

"Sure, whatever." said Shana. She somewhat blushed at the thought. She stopped herself from asking what a movie theater was.

* * *

><p>"Well you two lovebirds have fun!" said Rob zooming off in his orange Vauxhall Astra.<p>

"He didn't mean that." said Neil looking at Shana who seemed a little disturbed by what he said.

"Let's go." said Shana turned around and heading inside through the doors. Neil catcher up with her.

"Welcome to the food court." said Neil coming through the automatic doors to find Shana standing in front of a tv that had information on the weather and special events being held at the mall. "Hungry?"

"Sure." responded Shana not really being interested in his question.

"I'm up for Asian." said Neil making his way toward a Japanese-like food place.

Shana followed him to the place and looked at all the options of Japanese food there was.

"You want any?" asked Neil.

"Su-sure." responded Shana still looking at the pictures. The pictures reminded her of the times during lunch where she and Kazumi would bring Yuji homemade bentos and watch him eat. She remembered how he got the cramps. She smiled remembering how he got up to go fight the denizen.

"Shana."

She remembered...Yuji Sakai...

"Shana?"

Yuji...Sakai...

"Shana!"

"Wh-what?"

"Jeez. You were daydreaming. What do you want?" asked Neil pointing at the boards.

She then began to speak Japanese with the Asian woman behind the cashier who complied in Japanese.

"Damn. Didn't know you spoke Japanese." said Neil taking his seat across from Shana. She really didn't seem to care about his question because she knew if she didn't answer it, Alastor would.

"Flame hazes have the ability to speak any language they desire." said Alastor to Neil who was munching on some sushi.

"I see. I guess you guys spent some time in Japan." said Neil looking up at the monitors above their heads that showed music videos of current artists. Most of it was crap. Sometimes they played good artists, but most of it was still crap.

"Yeah, we did." responded Shana putting down her chopsticks. She looked at Neil in a peculiar way. Neil noticed.

"What's on your mind?" he asked.

"We never fully told you about Maxwell's Silver Hammer."

"Well...go ahead."

"Maxwell's Silver Hammer is one of the most valuable and important treasures. It gives the person who obtains it incredible power and the ability to never burn out." said Alastor. "With every day passing, you become more of a target to denizens all over now that have found out that it isn't just a fairy tale after all."

"What's more valuable. Maxwell's Silver Hammer or the Reiji Maigo?" asked Neil playing with his chopsticks(he knows how to use them).

"How do you know about the Reiji Maigo!" said Shana standing up.

"Alastor told me." said Shana in an angry tone.

"Calm down and sit down." said Alastor in a somewhat strong tone, yet it still sounded as though he was a little scared.

"Well I'm guessing if he told you about our encounter with the Reiji Maigo, he told you about the other things as well." said Shana sitting down and trying to calm herself.

"He did, but let's save that for some other time." said Neil cleaning up and getting up holding his tray(fast eater).

"I'm not done." said Shana pointing at her food.

"Well when you're done meet me over at that place." said Neil pointing at a Gamestop not far from the food court. He walked off before she could say anything about it.

"I can't believe you told him!" complained Shana looking down at Alastor. She was a little aggravated at the crimson lord.

"I don't understand why you are so upset about this." said Alastor.

"I'm not! It's just that...nevermind!"

She threw her food out and began to walk over to the store.

* * *

><p>"Yeah but the book is better then the movie." said a guy a the counter talking to Neil. He had glasses on and was somewhat over weight.<p>

"What are you doing." asked Shana.

Neil turned around to see her and looked back at the man.

"Shana, this is Mac. Friend of mine." said Neil putting his hand out as if he was showing off the man.

"Hello." said the man with a smile.

"Hi." said Shana waving her hand in one motion without a smile. "Can we go?" asked Shana looking at Neil.

The guy named Mac handed Neil a small plastic bag. Neil started to walk out and Shana followed.

"What's that." said Shana pointing at his bag.

"It's just some music game called 'Rockband'. You get some fake controller that looks like an instruemet and strum to the pattern on the screen. You can sing if you want to." said Neil teasing Shana.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" said Shana getting a little irritated. She seemed curious though.

"So whatcha wanna do?" asked Neil.

The rest of the time they spent browsing stores.

"Sweet." said Neil pulling out a record from one of the stacks of records in the rock aisle.

"What's that." asked Shana who somehow found melon bread at a mall in America.

"It's Pink Floyd's 'The Dark Side of the Moon'."

"What's that."

"Just an album by a band. Jesus, it's hard explaining things to you."

Shana hit him in the stomach.

"I forgot how hard you hit." Neil said biting his lip.

"What's so special about this." said Shana taking the record from his hands. She looked at the cover. It showed a triangle with blue and white sides in the middle. On the right was a rainbow of colors and on the left was a single strip of white. The background was black.

"It's one of the greatest rock'n'roll albums of all time."

"Whatever." said Shana giving it back to Neil

Shana followed Neil to the counter where he paid for the record. They both left and started walking. To nowhere really.

"How are you going to play that on your stereo. It's way too big." asked Shana not even looking at him.

"Well that's because you don't. It's a record so it has to be played on a phonograph." said Neil looking at the record.

"A what."

"A record player."

"Oh."

* * *

><p>Then they went to an arcade.<p>

"Up for some Guitar Hero?" asked Neil putting a quarter in the quarter slot for quarters.

"I'm alright. I'm going to try that sword game over there." replied Shana walking over to a game called 'Sword Spree'.

"When the hell did they make those games?" asked Neil to himself.

Neil put in some more quarters and started the game. He put on 'Through the Fire and Flames' and began to play. He was an expert.

Shana put in some quarters she had in her pocket into the machine and the doors opened up to let her into the machine. There was a head controller thingy that would let her see her virtual targets. A digital sword materialized in her hand the exact time her targets showed up.

"Too easy." she told herself. She put a grin on her face and easily sliced the monster in front of her into two. An 8-bit sign showed up whenever she killed a monster.

1st one killed.

"100! Good!"

2nd one killed.

"2x! Sweet!"

3rd one killed.

"3x! Legit!"

42nd one killed.

"42x! Noob!"

78th one killed.

"78x! Cheater!"

87th one killed.

"86x! Camper!"

100th one killed.

"100x! OMFG!"

Shana came out of the game doors holding the biggest stuffed anime cat ever to see about ten people crowded around where Neil was when they had last been.

"Jesus! He's gonna break it!" yelled one guy.

Shana made her way through the people to see Neil with a fake guitar controller in his hand. She looked at the screen to see multiple colored boxes making their way at light speed to the bottom of the big screen. Neil would press the correct colored button on the controller and the colored boxes on the screen would burst into flame which gave him tons of points. The song played was extremely intense.

"Holy crap! He did it!" yelled one nerd in the back. Some people cheered. Some just looked in aw.

"13487582957273857362748362 points! You fag!" said the screen in a font with flames. Neil looked at the screen and laughed.

"Are you done?" asked Shana with her hips on her waist somewhat grinning. It was very hard to tell if she was joking or not.

"Yeah let's go." said Neil moving out of the crowd of people. He took Shana's hand and lead her through the crowd of unknown. Shana blushed and watched as he lead her through. This was one of the only times he'd ever reached out and touched her. He didn't notice, but she did. Then she asked herself why she did. Creepy.

Once they reached the exit she let go as fast as she could. It was a one motion kinda thing.

"Not use to the touch of a man, eh." said Neil is a sarcastic suductive type of way. Be was clearly joking.

Shana took offense and punched him in the stomach.

"I'd like go keep it that way thank you very much!" said Shana in a hushed angry voice.

"I guess it's time to go anyhow. I'll call Rob." said Neil walking off and pulling out his cellphone.

"...he bugs me..." said Shana to herself, but Alastor thought it was towards her.

"How?" asked Alastor.

"I don't know...he just does...is it because he's a mystes?"

"Being a mystes has nothing to do with it. You find him weird because of his personality."

"No I don't!"

"Hey you want to get some ice cream while we wait?" asked Neil putting his cellphone in his pocket.

"Sure!" said Shana in an uppity voice. Her mind entirely changed. Other then melon bread, she was addicted to things like ice cream. Mostly because she had never tried American ice cream (the one and only!) and she was damn pretty eager to try it.

"Here." said Neil in a cheerful voice handing her two scoops of chocolate in a waffle cone. He had vanilla. She took it and slowly licked it. For some reason, he eyes were close. Neil found this very delightful.

Then she bite into the chocolate.

And then she had a chocolate orgasim (yeah, I said it)

"YUM!" she cheerfully said. She grew a huge smile on her face and tilted her head a little.

"Welcome to America." said Neil licking his vanilla scoops.

* * *

><p>"What's that." asked Shana coming back from the shower in her pajamas. Her hair was still wet so she had a towel in her hand. Neil was pulling something medium sized out of the closet.<p>

"That record player I was telling you about." said Neil pulling it out of the closet. It was brown and looked a somewhat old.

"Neat." replied Shana sitting down on the bed.

"Here. Just listen." said Neil letting the needle hit the record. He sat down next to Shana who looked at him for a second. She quickly turned her head back on looked at the record player.

"This isn't the first song on thus record, but it's my favorite." said Neil laying back on the bed. Shana still stood straight and listen.

Us and Them - Pink Floyd

Us and Them  
>And after all we're only ordinary men<br>Me, and you  
>God only knows it's not what we would choose to do<br>Forward he cried from the rear  
>And the front rank died<br>And the General sat, as the lines on the map  
>Moved from side to side<br>Black and Blue  
>And who knows which is which and who is who<br>Up and Down  
>And in the end it's only round and round and round<br>Haven't you heard it's a battle of words  
>The poster bearer cried<br>Listen son, said the man with the gun  
>There's room for you inside<br>Down and Out  
>It can't be helped but there's a lot of it about<br>With, without  
>And who'll deny that's what the fightings all about<br>Get out of the way, it's a busy day  
>And I've got things on my mind<br>For want of the price of tea and a slice  
>The old man died<p>

"It's a good song." said Shana closing her eyes and listening to the music.

"Yeah. It's the best." replied Neil who had his eyes closed the whole entire time.

Shana became tired and found herself falling backwards.

They both looked at each other.

"Yuji must of been real nice." said Neil moving his head to the ceiling.

Shana didn't answer. She got up and moved towards the balcony. She didn't want to think about Yuji. She didn't want to think about anything.

"Sorry if I said something wrong." said Neil who was at the door.

"It's nothing." replied Shana.

"It's obviously something, but I won't ask. I'll just go to bed now and leave the door open. Night."

"Night."

Shana sat down in a chair and closed her eyes. She was sleepy, but she wanted to stay awake for a little. She need to think. About Neil.

* * *

><p>"He's...really nice." she told herself in her mind. She compared him with him. She wondered what life would like if none of this happened. Maybe Yuji and her could have gotten married. Had kids. A normal life free from the fighting and unrestricted spells.<p>

She wondered about sex.

She turned her head around to see Neil in his makeshift bed sleeping. She came in and silently slid the door to a halt. She sat down on the bed and looked at him sleep.

"He's funny..." thought Shana smiling to herself. She almost forgot how tired she was. She crawled into the bed and fell asleep. She dreamt of nothing. Instead something.


	15. Last One Out, Gets the Lights

**Buenos dias, ladies and gentlemen. I apologize for any delays on posting new chapters (if you actually read this crap). Enjoy chapter 15. More will be on the way. I'll try to answer all questions. Vaya con dios!**

**Infinite playlist: **

**Trouble - Coldplay**

**Teenage Dream -**

**Let Go - Frou Frou**

* * *

><p>"It's been a while since we've seen that pesky flame haze."<p>

"Yes, yes. I understand that. Where was she last seen?"

"She was in Asia for a while, but now she's in America."

"Care to be more specific?"

"Screw you."

"Well now that Maxwell's Silver Hammer has been confirmed, we must begin to search for it. This treasure is extremly rare and also extremly dangerous so we must use caution."

"Tell me something I don't know."

"Your ignorant."

"Don't try me, pal."

"A case of incest explains your stupidity. Whom in your family had entercourse with each other?"

"HOW ABOUT YO-"

"How about the both of you just shut your fucking mouthes and make a plan. Jesus, I feel like I'm dealing with kids."

"You'll be dealing with this brat eventually. She's something."

"Research shows she has a contract with the Flame of Heaven."

"Oh really? I haven't seen him in ages. It'll be nice to get together again."

"You talk as though you two have been friends for ages."

"Maybe I was maybe I wasn't."

Someone lit a cigarite.

* * *

><p>"Hey I got you something." said Neil pulling something out of his pocket. Shana was sitting on the bed.<p>

"What? Why?" she asked in a somewhat annoyed somewhat excited voice.

"I don't know. I thought you'd like it." said Neil pulling out something. "Here!"

Neil sat on the bed next to her and opened his hand to reveal a bracelet in his palm. It was red and white and was made with clothe. Shana thought it was nice and also cute that he had bought her a gift.

"It's pretty..." said Shana admiring it and getting a little red. She took it out of his hand and put into her hers

"You look pretty..." muttered Neil looking at the bracelet. He didn't realize what he had just said.

"What did you say!"

"I said I smell shitty!"

Neil is really bad at rhyming (that's why he sticks to bass and not singing as much).

"..."

"..."

"I'm gonna go downstairs." said Neil moving for the door.

"..."

Neil shut the door and forced his legs to move down the stairs. Rob was asleep on the couch. The tv was showing a program called "Total Cool Tree's". Neil looked outside the window to see that it was drizzling. He moved to the kitchen and open the door outside. He sat down on the damp wooden steps and looked out onto the street and the house across his. He looked at his watch.

5:45 P.M.

* * *

><p>"I'm going to pretend he never said that." said Shana still admiring the bracelet. She didn't think he said that as a romantic interest type of thing, but more as a friend thing. Wait, they were friends now?<p>

"Guess who's drunk!" yelled Rob bursting through the door and landing on the makeshift bed that Neil had made. "Oh, is you! Shana! Waza!"

Shana moved quickly to hide the bracelet when he bursted through the doors so suddenly.

He was really drunk. Ordinary.

"You're extremely drunk." replied Shana looking away and laying on the bed. The bracelet laid underneath the pillow.

"I sleep better."

"I hope you realize this isn't your room."

"Yeah I realized that when I saw the girl in the room. So what's up."

"Nothing."

"Cute bracelet. Neil buy it for you?"

"What! You saw it!

"Don't think I'm fucking oblivious. I'm his older brother. Though he's not gay, he inherits my genes. He is one smart smuck."

"..."

"I used to be in a classroom with ten guys and six girls in the sixth grade. There was this one kid named Billy. He was a football player. He played the forward or whatever the hell football players play. Anyways, at this point I realized that I had started to develop feelings for him. I used to think about him at night and when he would pass by me in the hallways I always felt this sense that he was looking back at me while I walked away. Of course, no one knew about my gayness at the time so it was always kept a secret. Two weeks before one of his biggest games, he was diagnosed with some sort of cancer. He lost his hair, got thinner, became pale and all that shit. I think it's safe to say that his girlfriend and I cried equally the same that night when the teacher told us what had happened. One day I was browsing through the mall and found a white t-shirt that said "Free" in black. I thought about everything that went on in the weeks before and thought about how much everyone had suffered from his cancer. I felt like he had somehow spread his cancer to us and we now felt what he was feeling. The paranoid feeling where you ask yourself if you're going to make it through tonight or if you'll die in the next five minutes. Trying to reminisce about everything and everyone. Trying to keep on keeping on. One day, I visited his room in the hospital alone. He was sleeping. I realized that through the eyes of Billy, I was that guy in his school, but to me, he was something. I placed the shirt on a chair nearby and left. He died a few days later."

"...why are you telling me this?"

"Like I said, both Neil and I share the same genes. Neil bought you a bracelet. You must mean something to him."

Rob got up and started to try to move for the door and almost fell. He slammed the door quietly and moved towards his bedroom.

"I mean...something to him?" Shana asked herself quietly looking at the bracelet.

Something.

* * *

><p>"You're girlfriends waiting for you on the bed. Don't wait up." said Rob passing Neil and falling face down into his room passing out.<p>

Neil chuckled softly and quietly went to his room. He quietly opened his door to see Shana still looking atheist bracelet. She seemed spaced out.

"Hi." said Neil walking past her to his stereo.

"Oh! Hi." she said startled. She didn't notice him coming in (it scared the shit out of here). "Wh-what are you doing?"

"Just putting my CDs back in their cases so they don't get scratched so easily." he said "I take care of the things I like." The stereo started to play a song.

"Like me."

"Hm?"

"I said like me. You like me don't you?"

"Well yeah. I do. I mean why wouldn't I. You've been trying to protect me these past weeks. I've been told the truth about everything I ever knew."

"Oh..."

"Oh by the way. You're doing a crappy job at trying to protect me. I've saved your ass twice already." Neil said laughing.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" she said charging at him and fruit to hit him on the chest with her fists. He laughed and tried to stop her.

Then a slow song came up.

"I love this song. These guys are really good." said Neil looking at the stereo

"Sounds like a dancing song." Shana replied looking at Neil still. From this angle, he looked cute she thought.

"Wanna dance?" asked Neil smiling.

"I...don't know how to..." said Shana looking down in embarrassment. What should she be embarrassed about? She was a flame haze and flame hazes don't do that!

"Hey. Me neither." said Neil lifting her head up and placing his hand into hers and his hand on her hip. She felt like she knew what to do and placed her hands on his shoulders and they started to drift and sway back and forth through the song the flowed from the speakers. The sound filled the room and left nothing but a scent of gladness that there could be a pause from hurting and fighting.

**Teenage Dream - T. Rex **

**what ever happened to the teenage dream?**

Neil tried his best to kelp his rhythm to the song by swaying back and forth to the beat. Shana look happy. Actually more dozed off in dreamland. She closed her eyes and felt the music flow into her. She really didn't care about music at first (Flame hazes didn't give a damn about anything), but by meeting Neil, she felt as though her life had been brought back to the way it was when she was with Yuji. Yuji. Yuji...

**surprise, surprise**

**the boys are home**

**my gaurdian angel**

**run down my telephone**

**the heats on, mister**

**can't you hear them scream,**

**what ever happened to the teenage dream?**

**the curfew comesat the crack of night**

**the sad old wino**

**aches to dissapate the fright**

**the jet jump jiver**

**speeds past his machine, but**

**what ever happened to the teenage dream?**

**a broken god**

**from a musky world**

**sweetly mouth touched**

**him on its spur**

**his prison guards**

**were very hard to clean, but**

**what ever happened to the teenage dream?**

**do it, do it, do it to me babe**

**do it to me babe, aha!**

Neil heard her...crying? Was she alright? He felt her gripping tighter onto Neil. Getting closer to him as the song started to get a little heavier.

**what ever happened to the teenage dream?**

**the wizard of oz,**

**and the bums and theives**

**ruled my girl**

**with tuetonic teeth**

**but all was lost**

**when her mouth turned green**

**what ever happened to the teenage dream?**

**silver surfer**

**and the ragged kid**

**are all sad and rusted**

**ah, they don't have a gift**

**believe me Pope Paul,my toes are clean**

**what ever happened to the teenage dream?**

She missed him. She missed him so fucking bad.

**black is black**

**and white is white**

**some go to heaven**

**and some get it night**

**the bomb was a brute**

**but his winged screams...**

**what ever happened to the teenage dream?**

**yea ... aaaaaaaah**

**...I'm talking teen agey woman,**

**I'm talking to you**

**"play them blues to me boy"**

**"ride it off"**

"Shana?" asked Neil looking down at the girl who wouldn't let him see her face.

She turned her hands from his shoulders down to his waist. She buried her head into his chest and he fell backward onto his bed. She bawled her eyes out into his chest. She sobbed her heart out and remembered Yuji. His beautiful hair and eyes. His courage. She remembered how loyal he was to her cause. Something never heard of.

Neil realized that she was crying over the other boy. She must of been very special to her. He could understand her pain. He wrapped his arms around her and closed his eyes and exhaled.

He wouldn't cry for what had happened to him. Never.

"It's alright...it's alright..." he said soothing her back.

Neil woke up and looked at the clock to see that it was almost eleven o'clock. He looked around the room and then saw Shana laying on too of him. They were both on his bed. He blushed and then looked at her. She look so cozy and warm. She looked safe.

She had the expression on her face that said "nothing is going to ruin this".

She was fast asleep.

He felt him moving his arms moving from the bed to her back. He was almost there. Almost...

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." said Alastor.

Neil forgot about Alastor.

"I hate you so much." said Neil moving his head back and closed his eyes.

"What were you going to do?"

"Don't get that idea. She's still in love with that other boy. I'd never do something like that to her. She's hurt and she's needs someone to hold onto. Or at least fall asleep on. As long as I'm here, I'm going to help her in this fight or whatever. It beats doing nothing."

Neil felt Shana clinging onto him even more.

Her hair collided with Neil's nose, her face to his chest. Hers to his.

She smelled like pink grapefruit.

She rambled on using words like "miss" and "love" and sometimes just saying "Yuji" softly. She said it so clearly.

The days of Shana passed by slowly after Yuji's disappearance from the Earth. What was she to do? She didn't find anything to want to move on. She couldn't move her body. She felt stuck in one place. She searched everywhere across the city to find a trace that would lead her to him. But she found nothing. Not one clue, hint, trace, or lead. None. Her life was basically not to care about anything but her battle with the demons that consumed, but for once in her whole entire life, she felt alive. She felt like she could finally start living. Living a life where she didn't have to worry about what would happen tomorrow or the day after that or even about the years to come. She became somebody. It was thanks to Yuji Sakai that she became vivid. And now he had left and with him, her vividness.

But it came back. Thanks to Neil Wright.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey...how ya doing...I'm doing fine. Thanks for asking...I'm gonna get back to work now.<strong>


	16. Remembering to Forget to Remember

**Ball and Biscuit - The White Stripes**

**Paradise - Coldplay**

* * *

><p>About a month passed. Neil had already been into the feeling of being a torch and having Shana around to protect him when he couldn't. They both a somewhat mutual bond. He thought she was nice and everything (only if he showed his nice side first). Shana on the other hand had no idea what to feel, but was feeling good about something. She didn't know what she felt good about, but she knew it was something she had felt before.<p>

June

"Do you have a bathing suit?" asked Neil who was merely paying attention to his tv screen. He was playing on his Xbox 360. Halo was his favorite game.

He sat on the floor with his back against the front of his bed. He wore a blue shirt with the words "Called Out in the Dark" in a normal font in white across the shirt. He wore black jeans and sandals.

"What did you say!" exclaimed Shana who was on the bed in her school uniform (which bugged the hell out of Neil). She put down the magazine she had in her hand. She wasn't one to read the crap in the zines, but it had been a while since the last denizen came breaking on through to the other side so life had become a bore for her for the while.

"Not like that, you freak. Rob's been bitching about taking us to the bitch for a while now. You could finally see the beach." responded Neil.

"Well it's none of your business."

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

Somewhere on the highway

The three of them left on Friday around 4. Rob had just finished up loading their crap in the back of the car. Neil brought his acoustic guitar because he wanted to play on the boardwalk.

Neil wore a white shirt with a black smiling face on it, brown cargo pants, and blue converse. Shana wore a yellow shirt with the words "Zero's and One's" printed in white, short blue pants, and black sandals.

It was somewhere around 5 now.

"Hey, when are we gonna be there?" asked Shana in an annoyed tone. She poked an asleep Neil as hard as she could in the stomach.

"Soon. Leave me alone." responded Neil pushing her finger away and resting his head on the window.

"We shouldn't be doing something ridiculous as going to the beach, we should be training." said Alastor in hushed tone so Rob wouldn't hear him.

"Yeah we'll get right to that..." said Neil falling asleep again.

"You seemed tired as well." said Alastor to Shana.

"I guess." responded Shana closing her eyes for sec.

"I don't see why you have to worry about anything now."

"Fine."

Shana rested her head on Neil's shoulder and rested her eyelids. Neil didn't notice because he was a heavy sleeper.

And then she slept.

And the dreams began.

At first it was black. Then it came blue. Then red and yellow. Then back to black then blue. White stripes came from the end of these colors then a blast. Music played from speaker that was on in her mind. Symphony first, then drums. The blue went brown and zoomed out to see a single figure standing on a rock in a canyon. The figure was covered in white with black eyes. On his back was the silver hammer Neil owned. In an instance an arrow struck the figure in the side. The boy moaned in pain but immediately ripped the arrow out covered in red. Below the canyon were thousands of denizens of different places all joined together. And above them lay a single man. Dressed as a Beatle.

The figure jumped off the rock flying into the denizens. The boy jumped onto the head of a denizen and it immediately smashed into the dusty rocks on the ground. Blood spirted wildly from the the head as the denizens hands waved wildly then stopped. The denizens came towards the figure covered in someone's blood. The figure jumped up into the sky and pulled the Silver Hammer from it's back. Then it rushed towards the Beatle standing on s rock. The Beatle easily dodged the figures pathetic attack. Shana watched in horror as the two battled it out as the denizens watched and cheered for the Beatle. The fighting went on and on. The figure tried it's best to strike at the Beatle, but it didn't even get one shot at him.

Eventually the figure let his guard down unknowingly. The Bealte came from behind and stabbed him in the back with a single small knife made if silver. The figure gasped and fell towards the ground of denizens

The Beatle smiled and pulled out a fag.

"Shana." said the figure falling slowly.

Shana felt tears running down her checks.

"Wake up." said the figure. It slowly pulled something out of it's pockets.

"Shana. Wake up." said Neil flicking her nose. Shana opened her eyes to see Neil looking at her. She was still buckled into the car. Rob was moving up towards a light blue house holding their shit.

"Where..are we." said a tired Shana. She tried to look around but was unable to due to the fact that she was tired.

"The beach." said Neil. He unbuckled her seat belt and started to walk towards the beach house "Come on."

"Carry me." she replied.

"What?"

"C-carry me."

"Wha-Fine."

Neil turned around with his back facing the cars open door.

"Get on." he said.

Shana slowly climbed onto his back and almost fell asleep again.

This time with no bad dreams.


	17. She Never Left

**Holy shit. It's been a while. Sorry for dicking around for...quite some time. Enjoy. **

**Playlist:**

**Stuck on the Puzzle (short version) - Alex Turner**

**Can the Circle Be Unbroken - Carter Family**

* * *

><p>Neil carried Shana up the stairs and past the living room up the stairs and into his bedroom. Yet again, he found himself sleeping on the extra mat (which in his case would be the crappy old couch they had in the living room).<br>He gently placed Shana in the bed and tucked her into the bed. Just as he turned around, she grabbed his wrist. She was somewhat awake.  
>"Where are you going?" she asked in a dizzy voice. It almost sounded as though she was drunk which made Neil want to laugh, but for the sake of being punched in the face by a drowsy Shana, he kept his mouth shut.<br>"...I'm going to bed." he replied not really thinking of any other answer except for the truth and nothing but.  
>"There's no other bed in here."<br>"I'll take the couch." he said trying to somewhat get out of her grip.  
>"No you won't." she said with a drowsy smile and got off the bed and picked up her bag that laid outside in the hall and into the bathroom. "Change into your pjs!" she yelled from the bathroom.<br>Neil didn't ask questions. He was way too tired to even understand what was going on, usually girls didn't ask for sex like this. Yes that was a joke, you dick. Neil took his clothes off minus his boxers and put on a coffee brown Arctic Monkeys shirt and a pair of black shorts. He smiled to himself thinking of something funny and jumped onto the bed feeling it bounce to his bare fat. He posed as though he was some sort of naked French model and waited for Shana.  
>"Shana!" he yelled from the bed.<br>"What!" she replied seeming annoyed. As always. Why the hell do I even need to tell you that?  
>"When you come back, cover your eyes until I tell you to uncover them!"<br>"What!? Why!"  
>"You'll see!"<br>"If I see that you're naked when I come back, I will throw you out the window!" she yelled angry as hell.  
>Neil laughed to himself softly and waited for her. Finally he heard her footsteps dragging near the door.<br>"Eyes closed?" he asked getting all excited.  
>"Yeah, Why am I doing this?" she said seeming frustrated.<br>"Alastor, the same goes to you." said Neil smiling like crazy.  
>"I am a pendant."<br>Neil forgot to notice how cute she looked. All she was wearing was an extremely large and loose light pink shirt that covered her knees. He grew a bit red thinking about how awesome she appeared.  
>"Alright...open them!" he said eagerly.<br>She did.  
>Her arms dropped.<br>"Get out."

* * *

><p>Neil sat on the couch alone being comforted by only the grandfather clock ticking away to tell him it was 11:35 PM and the waves crashing into the concrete wall that separated him from death by drowning.<br>He kept asking himself wether or not it was right for him to do that to Shana. Then he realized he didn't care. It was funny.  
>He notice that every since they started to hang out more often that her personality started to change more to be like...his brother. He shivered for a second.<br>He closed his eyes.  
>He let his soul leave his body (just a stupid way of saying he fell asleep).<p>

* * *

><p>"Birth is death." whispered the girl's voice, but Neil couldn't make out her face. "Birth is death."<br>"What?" asked Neil getting up from the floor in a daze. He held onto his silver hammer and Fender Jaguar in both hands. He sluggishly moved over to the illuminating door at the end of the lavished hallway.  
>"Birth is death."<br>"What do you mean? Tell me?"  
>"Birth is death. Birth is death."<br>"Tell me what does that mean!"  
>His head began to increasingly hurt every time he took a step.<br>"Birth is death...I'm so sorry, Neil."  
>"TELL ME!"<br>He fell to the ground as his stomach felt like it was being drilled through. He began to bleed from his nose and his eyes. His vision was becoming blurry.  
>"Birth is death, Neil...and I'm so sorry."<br>He rushed for the door, opening it.  
>Then the flash took over and all he could see was how bright it was.<br>"I'm so sorry." she whispered

* * *

><p>Neil woke up in a sweat. His whole body was smothered in sweat and fear. He breathed in and out like a dog. He ran his fingers through his head and wiped away the sweat. He stood up and threw the blanket off from the couch and moved over into the kitchen and flicking on the light switch. He moved over to the sink and turn the faucet on. He brought the cold water over his face and felt each drop cool him and race down his nose and past his mouth to drop from his chin onto the cold kitchen table. His head hurt. This dream? What did it mean. What was going on. He didn't understand. Nothing made sense to him.<br>He dropped to the ground and look down at the dirty kitchen floor. The white tiles that had furbished this kitchen were now smothered by the wrinkles of the years that had past. Neil put his hands on his forehead and rubbed his eyes.  
>Then it hit him. He may not have understood the dream, but he understood who was calling. The voice.<br>Neil breathing became rapid. The tears began to form on his face. His skin turned red as the tears began their journey to the ground as Neil remembered bits of his past. The parts that people don't like to remember.  
>The girl living in his room upstairs sat at the stairs listening to the sobbing of a young boy.<br>And the only thing on her mind now was to understand the reason why he was like this.  
>Neil Wright.<p>

**Can the Circle Be Unbroken - Carter Family**

* * *

><p><strong>I'm gonna start getting back into this now. Cheers <strong>


End file.
